OSCE Supports Joint Historic Commission on Armenian Allegations

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) voted 55-1 to support a joint historic commission to research the Armenian allegation of genocide. Armenia was the only member that voted against the resolution.

Alaattin Buyukkaya, head of the Turkish delegation to the OSCE PA, stated that the OSCE resolution encourages the formation of a joint commission of historians and experts from third countries to research the political and military archives of pertinent archives. This decision mirrors Turkey’s proposal first made formally by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan in 2005 and then repeated on various occasions at the highest levels. The proposal has been rejected so far by Armenia.

The OSCE resolution proposes the joint commission of historians to objectively analyze the differing historical narratives of this disputed period in history in an effort to bring transparency and common understanding to this tragic part of Turkish-Armenian history.

Turkey has declared that it would accept the findings of a joint historical commission.  The United States has also voiced support for the Turkish initiative. Armenia and the Armenian diaspora do not support this initiative and focus on gaining political recognition by lobbying various countries. The Swedish parliament has recently rejected a resolution to recognize the events as genocide by citing, among other things, that there was no agreement among scholars, historians and other experts on what transpired during the last years of the Ottoman Empire.