ANKARA – Turkish Daily News
Turkey agrees that an international committee of experts should investigate allegations of an Armenian genocide in eastern Anatolia at the beginning of the last century, Switzerland’s Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said yesterday.
“What we agreed with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül is that an international committee of experts should take up this issue,” Calmy-Rey was quoted as telling a meeting of Turkish and Swiss businessmen before wrapping up a visit to Turkey.
Relations with Switzerland received a blow when members of the Canton Vaud regional parliament voted in September 2003 for a resolution recognizing the alleged genocide. Angered by the move, the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the Swiss ambassador to Turkey and said Calmy-Rey’s visit scheduled for October 2003 should be postponed. That was followed by a Swiss National Council resolution recognizing the alleged genocide.
“On this issue, the position of the Swiss government is very clear. We believe every country should cope with its past itself,” she said. According to the Swiss minister, Armenian Diaspora should also participate in such a commission.
Turkey has called for a scholarly investigation into the allegations but Armenia, with which Turkey has no diplomatic ties, rejected the proposal, saying the alleged genocide was an established fact.
In her talks in Turkey Calmy-Rey likened Turkey’s situation to her country’s decision to allow an international inquiry into assets deposited by Holocaust victims in Swiss banks in the period before and during World War II.
“In Switzerland, we have to face the question of what to do about the assets,” she said.
Determined on closer ties:
Calmy-Rey also said Switzerland, a country determined not to join the European Union, was interested in Turkey’s bid to join the 25-nation bloc as this would bring EU values into Turkey’s region and contribute to geostrategic stability.
“Turkey’s membership will prove the EU’s capacity to integrate communities that are culturally and religiously different,” she said but added that Switzerland’s importance for Turkey would lessen as Ankara gets closer to achieving its goal of EU membership.
“Switzerland is more determined now to improve its relations with Turkey. My visit is indicative of this desire,” said Calmy-Rey.
Switzerland is the sixth-biggest foreign investor in Turkey, and Swiss companies are active particularly in the fields of medicine and chemistry, providing employment for some 9,000 people in Turkey.
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