“Therefore, Turkey doesn’t believe that the Armenians will this year abandon their claims in connection with the 1915 events,” the diplomat said.
The fact that Azerbaijani territories are occupied by Armenia is the problem of Turkey as well, he added.
“The bilateral relations of Azerbaijan and Turkey have intensified at international level,” the ambassador added. “The two countries are represented in many international structures, and we are witnessing that active steps are being taken for development of their bilateral relations.”
Aside from that, he said, the Azerbaijani and Turkish diaspora abroad work more actively.
Coskun said Azerbaijan and Turkey are jointly fighting the Armenian propaganda about the 1915 events – a fight that is to cover not only the current year.
“The Turkic world has a common history, and we are trying to protect it,” he said. “To do so, we must first familiarize our youth, the future generations with this history. On the other hand, it is necessary to identify and focus on common values.”
This activity aims to prevent attempts of Armenia and the Armenian lobby to denigrate the history of the Turkic world, according to the diplomat.
“Of course, the most important thing is to tell the world about the bloody events in recent history, the most important of which is the Khojaly genocide,” said Alper Coskun. “And cooperation between Turkey and Azerbaijan in this direction is expanding.”
He said that in this regard, Armenia should focus on statements by the former Prime Minister and current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made last year.
“With this speech, Turkey reached out a helping hand to Armenia and Armenian people, invited them to enter into discussions, listen and try to understand each other,” he said. “However, the reaction of Armenia showed that it would continue to pursue its unilateral claims in the future as well and speak from the position of the enemy.”
The Armenian people must see the true state of affairs and put pressure on the government of the country, according to the diplomat.
“Turkey does not recognize the one-sided view of Armenia on the events of 1915,” he said. “From the legal, political and historical point of view, the intentions of Armenia are unacceptable.”
“While using the events of 1915 in its own interests and trying to achieve making political decisions by the parliaments of some countries, Armenia is trying to put Turkey in a difficult position,” he said.
“But this is impossible as the Armenians’ claims have no scientific, historical or legal basis,” the ambassador said.
The ambassador said that it is necessary to have an appropriate decision of the international court to prove the fact of genocide.
"On the other hand, according to the UN Convention "On prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide", the term "genocide" refers to 1948,” the diplomat said. “This term can not be applied to the previous events. This is the legal side of the issue."
“Moreover, from the political and historical points of view, it is impossible to use the claims about the so-called genocide against Turkey,” he said.
"Armenia tries to use the unfounded decisions taken by the parliaments of some countries on the basis of unilateral claims against Turkey,” he said. “The attempts of denigrating our common history are completely unacceptable. On the other hand, Armenia’s claims are also groundless from the historical point of view."
The diplomat said that the accuracy of many sources, cited by the Armenians, raises great doubts and some of them are fictitious.
He said that Turkey offers Armenia to give any facts, if they exist, and to consider this issue.
“It is impossible to forget the pain and anguish the nations in Anatolia faced that time, as well as the atrocities committed by Armenians against them,” said the ambassador.
The diplomat added that if Armenia is ready to discuss all this and build a common future, Turkey is ready for the rapprochement between the peoples of the two countries.
“But we don’t forget about the fact of occupation of Azerbaijani lands as well,” said Coskun. “For the rapprochement of the peoples [Turkey and Armenia], it is necessary to put an end to the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia.”
Diplomat added that the protocols signed with Armenia pursued these goals.
“Armenia has no a political will for the settlement of the conflict,” said the ambassador. “Meanwhile, there is no even a hint that Armenia will back down from its aggressive policy.”
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council`s four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
Coskun added that it is clear in which demographic and economic situation did Armenia find itself. “Armenian people can look around, see Azerbaijan’s development, the cooperation between Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia and think over the reasons of its isolation from this development.”
The diplomat added that if fair attitude to the 1915 events is ensured, Turkey will be ready to discuss any issue with Armenia and with other countries.
“Turkey is confident in itself,” said Alper Coskun. “As our country’s president said, if we have made a mistake, we are ready to discuss it. Hopefully, common sense will prevail in Armenia one day.”
Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that Turkey`s predecessor, the Ottoman Empire allegedly carried out ”genocide” against the Armenians living in Anatolia in 1915. Turkey in turn has always denied "the genocide" took place.
While strengthening the efforts to promote the "genocide" in the world, Armenians have achieved its recognition by the parliaments of some countries.
Festive events dedicated to the Canakkale Victory will be held in Turkey on April 24. Heads of over 50 countries will take part in these events.
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