Foreign Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu called on Armenians for a dialogue. "Turks and Armenians - we must follow Erdogan's lead and bury our common pain. In offering condolences for the events of 1915, Erdogan has presented the chance for reconciliation. Let's take it," Davutoglu writes in his article published by The Guardian.
"Relations between Turks and Armenians date back centuries: I appeal to everyone to seize this moment, and to join us to reconstruct a better future for Turkish-Armenian relations. The statement by Prime Minister Erdogan is an unprecedented and courageous step taken in this direction. I believe now is the time to invest in this relationship. But we can only succeed if this endeavour is embraced by a wider constituency intent on reconciliation. Turkey stands ready," the minister writes. According to him, offering condolences to the descendants of Ottoman Armenians with compassion and respect is a duty of humanity. "An almost century-long confrontation has proved that we cannot solve the problem unless we start listening to and understanding each other. We must also learn to respect, without comparing sufferings and without categorising them," he writes.
"It is an undeniable fact that the Armenians suffered greatly in the same period. The consequences of the relocation of the large part of the Armenian community are unacceptable and inhuman," Davutoglu says in his article.
At the April 23 meeting of the Parliament, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered condolences to the descendants of the Armenian Genocide survivors, but qualified the Genocide as events of the early XX century.
To recall, Armenia and Turkey lack diplomatic relations and the 330 km border between the two countries has been closed since 1993 on Ankara's initiative. The complicated relations between the counties are explained by the fact that Turkey supports Azerbaijani stance on the Karabakh problem and vehemently reacts to the process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide 1915.