Turkey admits devastating losses of Armenians: Davutoglu

Turkey doesn't deny that devastating things happened to Armenians in early 20th century, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said in Washington.

"Just 10 years ago, no one in Turkey spoke of the Armenian issue, whereas nowadays our society freely discusses the topic," Voice of America radio station quoted him as saying.

Davutoglu believes that neither Armenians nor Turks are to blame for the existing conflicts between the two nations. He sees the emergence of nationalist movements as the main cause of the Genocide.

Only a year before the events – in 1914 –Turkey had ministers of Armenian descent, and Armenian diplomats represented the country in a number of European capitals. In Ottoman sources, the Armenians were referred to as the 'most faithful citizens'," Davutoglu said, adding that all kinds of errors in that period occurred mostly due the lack of law and order throughout Turkey.

Asked whether the Turkish parliament's failure to ratify the protocols was conditioned by the upcoming parliamentary election in the country, the Karabakh conflict or any other factor, Davutoglu said: "Unfortunately, Armenia's Constitutional Court passed a decision ruling out the possibility of creating a committee of historians, while the issue was important for Turkey."

Davutoglu also said that the Armenian-Turkish protocols are aimed at improving the relations between Armenia and Turkey, normalizing the ties between the two peoples and establishing peace in the Caucasus region.

He also reiterated Ankara's official stance that there will be no progress over the protocols without a progress in the Karabakh peace process.

"Even if the protocols are approved without an Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement, Turkey will close the border again in case of an escalation," he said.