“Reinstitution of the Turkish-Armenian friendship”

I am not a historian. As a researcher of political sciences and public commentator, I am interested in the current tendencies and problems of the Turkish political affairs.
I believe the solution to the “Armenian problem” is crucial for the consolidation of the pluralist and liberal democracy and peace in Turkey. Consequently, I am more interested in the future that in the past. Thus, my problem is: What can be done to re-establish the Turkish-Armenian friendship? Undoubtedly, there are persons among the Turkish and the Armenian that want to solve the problem and achieve reconciliation. Today, these people are the minority, but they could certainly be the majority in the future. Therefore, a consensus about two issues is necessary: history and politics.
The Turkish population does not know much about the tragedy lived by the Ottoman Armenians and finding a solution to the Armenian problem is impossible if they are not well informed about the historical reality of that period. It’s impossible to reach a consensus to know if there is or not a genocide attempt against the Armenians. Everyone clings to its convictions but it’s obvious that the genocide accusation prevents the Turkish from freely discussing what actually happened. Undoubtedly, considering all Turkish responsible for the crimes committed by the Ottoman Unionist government is unacceptable. To use the genocide accusation to poke a racist and xenophobic hate against the Turkish as a whole is also completely unacceptable, but if we reach a consensus with regard to the actual historical facts, then we’ll advance towards the solution of the problem.
From the political point of view, our task is clear: we should work in favour of reconciliation by making greater efforts to guarantee that our Armenian citizens have the same civic rights everyone else has and to preserve their particular rights as a minority. Historians must do their job with courage and determination in order to discover the truth and expose the guilty ones, and we must also do our political job by convincing the opinion that there should be diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia and succeed in the opening of the borders between our two countries. Thus, Ankara could contribute to peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Likewise, ties should be established as well as a dialogue between the Armenian and the Turkish civil societies. If we succeed in having all these factors, then it would be possible to raise a monument in Anatolia some day in order to commemorate the great suffering of the Ottoman Armenians.