Turkish President Abdullah Gul made a speech at the CE Parliamentary Assembly, January 25.

Naira Zohrabyan, a member of the Armenian delegation to the CE Parliamentary Assembly, told Armenian News-NEWS.am that she asked the Turkish leader the following question: "Any state is strong as much as it is able to face its own past. Sooner or later turkey will admit the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1915. Do you think it had better do it now?"

In response, the Turkish leader said he will not accept this wording. He pointed out that the question requires a detailed answer. Gul does not consider the term "genocide" acceptable. A committee needs to be set up and documents declassified for the issue to be thoroughly studied. If a third country claims there was genocide, it may join the process as well, the Turkish leader said. There was bloodshed and suffering at that time, but the term "genocide" implies deliberate murder, he said. President Abdullah Gul called for setting up a committee. He assured the Armenian MP Turkey will accept any decision.

Mrs. Zohrabyan said that it is evidence Turkey has not changed since early last century. It is a state that will not admit its past.

Mrs. Zohrabyan reported that Renй Rouquet, a member of the French delegation to PACE asked the Turkish leader a question, part of which dealt with Armenian-Turkish reconciliation, which most likely failed because of Turkey linking it to the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.

President Gul actually quoted the Turkish Foreign Minister. He called Nagorno-Karabakh an "occupied" territory thus confirming Turkey is speaking in terms of preconditions, Zohrabyan said.

Armenian News-NEWS.am reminds readers that, responding to Naira Zohrabyan`s question, Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoglu openly admitted that the unsettled Nagorno-Karabakh conflict accounted for the failure of Armenian-Turkish reconciliation. He clearly stated that, in signing the protocols, Turkey was pursuing three goals, namely, reopening of border, historical reconciliation and settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.