Bağış calls on Germany to open archives on ‘genocide’

BERLIN - Anatolia News Agency

Turkey’s EU Minister Egemen Bağış (L) meets with EU Enlargement Commisioner Stefan Füle in Brussels. AA Photo

Turkey’s EU Minister Egemen Bağış said Germany should open its archives regarding the Armenian genocide allegations in order to help illuminate the issue, German Welt Online posted on its web-site yesterday.

“Germany was a strong ally of Armenians in 1915, so the Germans should open their archives and give documents to historians for examination,” said Bağış. He added that all documents he had seen regarding the issue did not define the incidents of 1915 as “genocide,” and freedom of thought was among the core European values. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also hailed Azerbaijan for supporting Turkey regarding the French bill to criminalize denial of Armenian genocide allegations. “Our Azerbaijani brothers and sisters did their best and extended a great support both in France and Azerbaijan,” Erdoğan said in an interview with Azerbaijan’s national television channel ANS yesterday.Erdoğan’s remarks came a day after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev received a delegation of French senators, led by the deputy chairman of the France-Caucasus Friendship Group. The delegation included French senators who were against the French bill.

Meanwhile, Marseille Mayor and ruling UMP party’s group head in French Senate Jean Claude Gaudin said he believes the French Constitutional Council may annul the bill, daily Hürriyet reported. Separately, Socialist lawmakers of the European Parliament Feb. 7 called for the opening of more policy chapters in Turkey’s membership talks, after they met with Bağış. Also Bağış and European Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Füle met Feb. 7 in Brussels focusing on efforts to create “a positive agenda” in Turkish-EU relations.