YEREVAN. – Turkish writer Murat Belge confessed it required him 70 years and even more to try to understand Turkey and policy run by the Turkish Government, the writer said during the discussions ‘Trying to Understand Turkey’ organized in Yerevan on Wednesday.

Regarding recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Belge said that the official denial by his state imposes France, the U.S. and Germany to take the rational steps. Besides, another aspect should also be taken into account.

“The Turkish Government may take a step towards the Genocide recognition coming out of its interests. To ask an apology is quite easy, while to forgive is very difficult. Even if the governments of both states arrive at an agreement, anyway there will still the problem of mutual relations between the two nations,” he said.

According to him, if some 10-12 years ago students were asking whether the 1915 events ever occurred, nowadays students do not have such questions, as there is no information blockade in Turkey. If earlier the state financed universities to write books on genocide denial, currently such tendency has no place in Turkey. At the same time, it does not necessarily mean that publication of books denying those events are not accepted with pleasure.

Photo by Sona Barseghyan