ARMENIA WILL SIGN THE PROTOCOLS,

The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, who was in Yerevan recently, said he believes Armenia will sign the protocol and pass it through its parliament, despite objection from the opposition.

Involved in civil dialogue with the Armenians since 2008, Cem Toker said the image of Turks and Turkey is changing over the course of the reconciliation process that started with last year’s visit by Turkish President Abdullah Gul to Yerevan to watch a football match. Toker, who has been to Armenia at least three times during the past 18 months, has met President Abdullah Gul to brief him about his impressions of Armernia. Gul made a bold decision to go to Yerevan last year, said Toker, who recalled that contradictory statements later came from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to Azerbaijan.

“I wanted to support Gul,” he said of his visit to the Office of the Presidency, which lasted half an hour more than planned.The Armenian approach to Turkey has started to change, especially after Gul’s visit to Yerevan, Toker told the Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review. “There is tremendous potential to forge friendship between the two countries,” said Toker. “Everyone has a tragic story about the 1915 events. But every tragic story also comes with a good story. They would tell stories of how family members were sent into exile and stories of how neighbors had saved lives by providing shelter and food.”

Toker said he has never used rhetoric that would imply recognition of the Armenian claims that the World War I mass killings at the hands of the Ottomans amount to genocide. “People are innocent until proven guilty beyond a doubt. What has been accounted by grandfathers or great-grandmothers does not prove there has been genocide,” said Toker. “I have told the Armenians that even God cannot change the past. But we have to leave the past behind and look to the future,” he said.

There is, however, a strong presence of nationalism as well, according to Toker. “I have seen in shops maps showing eastern Turkey as part of Armenia hanging on the walls. There are still people who believe that the eastern part of Turkey belongs to Armenia and that one day it will be taken back,” he said.

Toker said there is tremendous reaction to the fact that a commission will be established to investigate past events as part of the agreements between the two governments. He expressed optimism however, saying that the documents will be endorsed by the Armenian parliament.