WikiLeaks published a cable of U.S. Embassy in Yerevan containing the letter of the then president Robert Kocharyan to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Armenian News-NEWS.am posts the full text.

“Dear Prime Minister,

I’ in receipt of your letter.  Indeed, as two neighbors, we both must work to find ways to live together in harmony.  That is why, from the first day, we have extended our hand to you to establish relations, open the border, and thus start a dialogue between the two countries and two peoples.

There are neighboring countries, particularly on the European continent, who have had a difficult past, about which they differ.  However, that has not stopped them from having open borders, normal relations, diplomatic ties, representatives in each other’ capitals, even as they continue to discuss that which divides them.

Your suggestion to address the past cannot be effective if it deflects from addressing the present and the future.  In order to engage in a useful dialog, we need to create the appropriate and conducive political environment.  It is the responsibility of governments to develop bilateral relations and we do not have the right to delegate that responsibility to historians.  That is why we have proposed and propose again that, without pre-conditions, we establish normal relations between our two countries.

In that context, an intergovernmental commission can meet to discuss any and all outstanding issues between our two nations, with the aim of resolving them and coming to an understanding.

Sincerely,

Robert Kocharyan”

The following is the text of the MFA non-paper (original in English) that accompanied the above diplomatic note:

-- The content of the letter President Kocharyan received from Prime Minister Erdogan is not new. The call for historians to discuss the ‘events of 1915’ is a call that has been made by every single Turkish administration each time they are confronted with strong signs of international interest and attention to the Genocide and issues having to do with recognition.

-- This is the first time that this kind of proposal has been presented in writing, from the highest level.  Therefore, President Kocharyan has responded to Prime Minister Erdogan, even though we have serious concerns about their seriousness and sincerity.

-- Our concerns are caused by several factors:

-- First, the letter appeared in the Turkish press before it arrived in Yerevan;

-- Second, it was immediately distributed in the US Congress with the clear implication that the process of ‘rapprochement’ and ‘reconciliation’ are underway and that any US action (such as a Congressional resolution) are unnecessary;

-- Third, the Turkish penal code still penalizes citizens for using the term ‘genocide’ in the Armenian context.  Indeed, two current court cases against writer Orhan Pamuk and publisher Ragip Zaraoklu are still pending.

-- Fourth, the Turkish Parliament held hearings in mid-April on the Armenian issue and issued a statement not only confirming their own revisionist efforts, but also blatantly calling on third countries (such as the UK) to revisit, review and revise their own archives.

-- Nevertheless, President Kocharyan’s letter reiterated the Armenian position:  Armenia is ready to discuss any issue, at the intergovernmental level.  The ideal way to do that would be to have diplomatic relations.  Even if that is not immediately achievable, there can still be some normalcy in relations, open borders, easy communication and travel between our two countries and our representatives.

-- Armenia has no preconditions to establishing relations and opening borders.  All bilateral problems and issues, including Genocide, can be discussed once relations are established.

-- Turkey uses three different excuses to explain their maintaining closed borders.  One is Armenia’s insistence on Genocide recognition.  (Armenia’s response is that genocide recognition and remembrance is a moral issue that cannot be dropped, but Armenia does not make such recognition or remembrance a precondition to relations.)

-- The second excuse is that Armenians have not reaffirmed Turkey’s territorial integrity. (Armenia’s response is that the Kars treaty which defines the current border between Armenia and Turkey has neither been revoked nor renounced. Further, since independence, no Armenian official has made any territorial claims of Turkey.)

-- The third excuse is the still unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. (Armenia’s response is that this is a problem with a third country, and is unrelated to our bilateral relations.)

-- We fervently hope that Prime Minister Erdogan will respond positively to President Kocharyan’s proposal to normalize relations, so that we can address the most complicated problems.