Turkey’s eighth president Turgut Ozal, who died in 1993 under mysterious circumstances, had attempted to resolve the Armenian Genocide issue, the statesmen who worked with Ozal told Aksiyon daily of Turkey.     

In his search for a way to resolve this matter, Ozal formed a working group, and demanded that it study the archives and prepare a written report.  

Hasan Celal Guzel, the then-Turkish PM’s chief adviser, confirmed that Turgut Ozal had launched an initiative to resolve the Armenian issue, but this caused a concern for the authorities, and the Turkish military was obstructing in every way the carrying out of archival studies on 1915.    

Turkey’s former ambassador to Washington, Nuzhet Kandemir, noted that Ozal had met with influential representatives of the Armenian Diaspora every time when visiting the US. After such meeting in 1991, Ozal had told to Turkish officials: “They want for us to recognize the Genocide. If we recognize, how much will that cost?”     

It is noted that in order to normalize relations with the Diaspora Armenians, Turgut Ozal wished to allocate free land in Van for the Armenians, but this initiative likewise was accepted very negatively.