Turkey reiterates its call on Armenia to open archives on 1915 events

Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5 million of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in 1915. Turkey rejects the claims, saying that 300,000 Armenians along with at least as many Turks died in civil strife that emerged when Armenians took up arms, backed by Russia, for independence in eastern Anatolia.  Â

In 2005, Erdogan took a first step towards resolving the issue by proposing a joint commission of historians launch an investigation and publish their conclusions, but the proposal was rejected by Yerevan.

"Our offer is still on the table. Let's leave it to historians," Erdogan told a conference in New York's Columbia University.

"We have opened our archives and Armenians should open their archives too. We have studied over 1 million documents so far," he was quoted by the Anatolian Agency as saying.

Erdogan said Turkey and Armenia should abide by the final decision of historians following these studies.

There is no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey, as Armenia presses the international community to admit the so-called "genocide" claims instead of accepting Turkey's call to investigate the allegations, and Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan.

But a warmer period began between Turkey and Armenia after Turkish President Abdullah Gul paid a landmark visit to Armenia early September.

Asked about the Turkish government's reaction regarding U.S. president-elect Barack Obama and his team's close stance on the Armenian allegations, Erdogan said the campaign carried out by the Armenian diaspora in the United States was not fair.

"I hope the new U.S. administration would take into account Turkey's efforts. It is not fair to make a judgment upon such cheap political lobbying," he said.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT
Asked whether Turkey, as the new member of the U.N. Security Council, would pursue its own national policy or U.N. policies if a problem about the Caucasus and the Nagorno-Karabakh was brought to the Council, Erdogan said Turkey would contribute to speed up efforts for settlement of the problem.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met in Moscow earlier this month and signed a declaration calling for a "peaceful resolution" to their dispute over the province of Nagorno-Karabakh on the basis of "binding international guarantees", taking a step further towards resolution of the conflict.

Erdogan said the two leaders made a significant step, and added Turkey is willing to host the second meeting of Aliyev and Sargsyan. He said solving the problem could lead to a new step and the start of a new process regarding the relations between Turkey and Armenia.