285) 20 Armenian journalists coming to Turkey in July

 

07.06.2005 Hürriyet

 

The Turkish Journalist Union is going to host a group of 20 Armenian journalists for 4 days in Istanbul, Ankara, Antalya and Urgup-Goreme. The project, supported by the Culture and Tourism Ministry, will have the 20 Armenian journalists spending one night in Istanbul, two nights in Ankara, and one night in Antalya and Urgup-Goreme. Meetings that take place with the group will attempt to focus on the theme that any pain from 1915 should not be allowed to be transmitted to future generations of the two countries.

 

A visit planned to the Armenian Patriarchate

 

Head of the Turkish Journalists' Union, Turgut Dedeoglu, said that as members of the press, they wanted to take action to help increasing tensions on the Armenian claims of genocide.

 

Dedeoglu said that after visiting the Dogan and Sabah media groups, the 20 journalists would also tour the Armenian Patriarchate. Dedeoglu said also that there would be meetings bringing the visitors together with Turkish journalists.

 

The Armenian journalist group has also indicated a desire to speak with high placed members of the Turkish government, including Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. Regarding the dialogue that he his hoping will be sparked by the visit, Dedeoglu said "We will try to explain that any pain from 1915 should not be passed on to future generations." He also stressed that his group's stance is that, since there was no government policy at the time, there was no genocide that took place either.

 

Archives may be opened to journalist group

 

The visit of the Armenian journlists will be an opportunity to have the Turkish History Foundation open its archives to Armenia, said Dedeoglu. Though the opening of the archives to the visiting group has not been confirmed, Dedeoglu says that the Turkish Journalists Union is working to make it happen. He also assered that the Foreign Ministry looked warmly on the upcoming visit, which is scheduled for July.