Halonen in Armenia asked for recognition of Turkish massacre

President avoids question by focusing on future

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During her visit to Armenia on Tuesday, President Tarja Halonen found herself in the middle of a debate on the sensitive issue of the Turkish massacre of more than a million Armenians during the First World War and shortly thereafter.
      The discussion took place soon after the Finnish President had laid a wreath at a monument to the victims of the genocide in the Armenian capital Yerevan.
      Armenian journalists asked the Finnish President if she would publicly recognise the events as an act of genocide. A number of countries, including France, have already done so.
      Turkey has refused to admit that genocide had taken place, and this refusal is one factor which has helped inflame relations between Armenia and Turkey; their border is closed off, and there are no diplomatic ties between the two countries.
     
President Halonen avoided a direct response to the questions, saying instead "We are building a common future with Armenia".
      According to the President, Finland is not in the habit of giving recognition to historical events. She said that every generation has the right to re-examine history, and every country has a right to its own history. She added that countries should not become prisoners of history.
      The laying of the wreath at the monument could be seen as a recognition of sorts. However, many other state visitors to Armenia do the same.
      The protocol also calls for the planting of a tree at the memorial. Halonen’s silver fir went up near trees planted by Vladimir Putin and Lech Walesa.
     
"Where’s the minister?" Halonen asked in the middle of the tree-planting ceremony, calling on the Minister of Trade and Industry Mauri Pekkarinen to grab the shovel and start digging.
      Earlier during the trip Pekkarinen had complained that he had little to do in the President’s entourage. On Tuesday there was no such problem, because Halonen kept him busy all day.
      For instance, in the middle of a press conference of the Finnish and Armenian leaders, Halonen unexpectedly asked Pekkarinen to brief the journalists on prospects for economic cooperation between the two countries.
      Two sectors seen by Pekkarinen as worthy of development were mining and tourism.
     
Finnish package tours to Armenia have already begun this year. Currently, a fifth fairly small group of Finnish tourists are in Yerevan.
      On Tuesday, President Halonen held talks with Armenian President Robert Kochharian and other politicians on trade, Armenian-Turkish relations, the dispute over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as over Turkey’s possible membership in the European Union.
      The same issues came up when Halonen, who received an honorary doctorate, spoke to students at Yerevan State University.
      The Finnish President defended Turkish EU membership, which Armenia opposes, because of Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. She said that Turkish EU membership would benefit the whole region, including Armenia.
      On the question of Nagorno-Karabakh - an ethnically Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan - Halonen offered the autonomous status of Finland’s Åland Islands as a model. A fiery-eyed student responded: "Azerbaijan is not Sweden".


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Jazzy start to President Halonen's visit to Armenia (27.9.2005)
  President Halonen to Caucasus for a week (26.9.2005)

Links:
  Speech by President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen at Yerevan State University on 27 September 2005
  Armenian National Institute dedicated to the study and affirmation of the Armenian genocide

Helsingin Sanomat