Davutoglu remembered his grandfather
"Whereas the events that took place in the early 20th century were denied, now we don't deny that Armenians witnessed terrible events in Turkey," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu announced in Washington.
According to him, Turkey took a step forward in the normalization of relations with Armenia by signing the Protocols.
"Ten years ago, nobody was talking about the Armenian Cause in Turkey, but now the Turkish society is freely discussing it."
According to the "Voice of America", Davutoglu also said the Turks and the Armenians are not blame for issues between both nations. The Turkish Foreign Minister sees the activism of nationalist movements during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire as the reason for the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
According to Davutoglu, a year before the events, that is, 1914, there were Armenian ministers in Turkey, Armenian ambassadors were representing Turkey in a number of European capitals and Armenians were recalled as "the most loyal subjects" in the Ottoman Empire's archives.
"1915 is an important year for the Armenians, but we must remember that 250,000 Turks were killed in one of the military fronts that year and one of those Turks was my grandfather."
Davutoglu said he wouldn't like to justify any errors. "If there have been errors, we have to talk about them. Let's not forget that we are talking about a period in history during which there were no political rules or regulations in the whole of Turkey."
Is there any reason, such as the upcoming elections in Turkey, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict or any other reason for not ratifying the Armenian-Turkish Protocols? In response to the question from "Voice of America", Davutoglu said: "Unfortunately, Armenia's Constitutional Court ruled to exclude the creation of a historical committee, but that is important to Turkey."
Davutoglu also announced that there will be no change in the Protocols as long as there has not been any progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
"Even if the Protocols are ratified without an agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Turkey will once again close the border if the situation intensifies," said the Turkish Foreign Minister.
