‘Armenians should Open Historical Archives’

Erdogan hosted French Parliamentary Speaker Jean Louis Debre in his office, who visited Turkey in order to hold talks about the Armenian and the Cyprus issues as well as reforms regarding the European Union (EU). Reacting specifically against the so-called Armenian genocide allegations raised by France, Erdogan reportedly said: "We leave the discussion of these issues to our historians." According to sources, the Prime Minister told the guest French Parliamentary Speaker that Turkey is unbowed on this issue as it has opened the Ottoman archives and there is no evidence to support these claims. Erdogan also called on the Armenians to open their archives and argued: "Let’s leave this issue to the historians. If Armenian historians have some claims to make, so do our historians. If they open their archives, it will be seen that the situation is nothing like what has been claimed. We do not have any problems with our Armenian citizens. We have already opened our archives on this issue, but the Armenians have not."

Meanwhile Debre, signified that the implementation of EU reforms is their top priority and they have been working towards this. The Speaker of the Turkish Parliament Bulent Arinc, after meeting with Debre yesterday, reminded that the referendum on Turkey’s EU membership in France will be held at a date after the elections and said an affirmative result for Turkey will come out of it. When asked, "Why will a referendum be held only for Turkey?" Debre replied: "It is normal to hold a referendum for a country of 71 million people."