WHY DO WE INVITE THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE?

I read it in Fatih Altaylý's column in Sabah daily yesterday.

Turkish History Institute (TTK) President Yusuf Halacoðlu was
supposed meet with Ara Sarafyan, the author of Blue Book,
which is seen as one of the most important documents backing
Armenian claims.

Both sides were supposed to produce various documents to
argue their case, the first such meeting.

I was very excited about it.

Armenians usually don't participate in such meetings.
"The whole world accepts the genocide. Why should we open
a case over something already accepted," they usually asked.
Sarafyan was very important in this respect. His visit was
supposed to provide a huge boost to Turkey's call for
historians focusing on the matter, discussing and
debating it.

Suddenly, we were all told the meeting was cancelled.
Professor Halacoðlu held a press conference and said Sarafyan
had cancelled the trip, presenting an article in weekly AGOS
that said the Armeniandiaspora was furious about Sarafyan's
trip. That was the reason of cancellation, he said.

Now we learn from Altaylý that the real reason why the
meeting was cancelled was very different. It appears Halacoðlu
refused to open the archives without limits and objected to
presenting certain documents.

What was this all about?

If you were not going to show the documents, why would you
ask for a meeting? Why do you organize such a meeting before
agreeing on the conditions of opening of the archives? Why do
you initiate a process you cannot go take to the finish?

Turkey is already on the defensive on this issue and this
latest development means another point scored against us. No
one will ever believe Turkey when it proposes to open the
archives and share allthe documents so that historians can
discuss the matter.