It is better to leave the issue on the slaughter of Armenians in the First World War to historians, Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE), Thorbjørn Jagland, stated at PACE’s session Monday.

“With regard to the slaughter of people in Armenia after the First World War, my approach follows what was said in the famous accords between Turkey and Armenia. It was foreseen that we should let historians give the answer as to what happened. That is where I stand now, although I see that others have a different opinion and that national parliaments have adopted resolutions on the subject. We do not have any opinion in the Council of Europe, at least not on the intergovernmental side.

I have no opinion on what the Parliamentary Assembly should do, but I think that the best way to deal with history is to let the experts who work with it advise us on the facts. We can then make our opinions based on that. Every time I meet the leaders in Armenia and Turkey, I urge them to go back to what they agreed upon in the famous accords. That seems unrealistic now, but I hope that they will do so sooner or later,” Gagland said.