Corlatean on genocide against Armenians: Romania preferred to encourage dialogue between Turkey and Armenia

Former Foreign Affairs Minister Titus Corlatean, currently honorary adviser to the Prime Minister, on Thursday said that Romania had a "wise attitude" and preferred to encourage the dialogue between Turkey and Armenia concerning the "extremely delicate" topic of "the genocide" against Armenians.

Photocredit: (c) Alex TUDOR / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

"It is a topic, which in Bucharest, all these years, has been avoided and there has been a certain caution to enter the political sensitivity of this topic. Here, in Bucharest, the historic dimension was rather preferred (...) and also the encouragement of the direct dialogue between the authorities of Ankara and Yerevan, in order to gradually get closer through political dialogue, for the two states directly interested in the topic to finally find a convenient solution. (...) I believe that Romania had a wise attitude in an extremely delicate matter, in the sense of encouraging and supporting the two countries to solve this difference on their own," Corlatean told RFI radio.

The European Parliament (EP) on Wednesday evening adopted a resolution urging Turkey to admit the Armenian "genocide," three days after a statement of Pope Francis, who used this word to describe the massacre against Armenians committed by the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, AFP informs.

During a debate on the resolution, conservative German MEP Elmar Brok said: "My own people committed genocides," evoking "a moral obligation" to recognise and commemorate such massacres. "Hundreds of thousands of Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman empire's henchmen between 1915 and 1917," Brok added.

The EU executive refuses to speak of "genocide," as this term is not used by all the 28 EU member states.

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