Yerevan/Mediamax/. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Armenians of rejecting Ankara’s "peace hand”.

Addressing a speech in University of Bogotá during his official visit to Columbia, Erdogan urged Armenia “to examine the 1915 events through the lens of science and not politics”,  Turkish Hurriyet magazine writes.

According to the Turkish President, “what the Armenians did against the Turks and what the Turks did against the Armenians 100 years ago has not been properly discussed.”

“We have made an effort to fix relations with Armenia and to open a new page. Unfortunately, our peace hand has always been rejected by the influence of Armenian Diaspora. We would like them (Armenians-Mediamax) to come and be in Çanakkale on April 24, try to understand what happened among our hundreds of thousands of martyrs. But they didn’t do that,” the Turkish President said.

According to him, the Armenian side blocked the peace and dialogue with their statements violating courtesy protocols.

The Turkish President stated they “will not give up on our efforts for peace and dialogue. We will continue to approach this issue under the light of history and science, not with propaganda, perception games or ugly international politics”, he stressed.  “We will not give up on our efforts for peace and dialogue with respect to the 1915 events. This year is the 100th anniversary. We are still reiterating our sincere call,” he added.

Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan responded to the Turkish President’s statement. “It is impossible to shut the door, locked from inside”, he wrote on Twitter.