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  • Issue of Armenian Genocide in Turkish Parliament

    AZG Armenian Daily #064, 12/04/2005


    Armenian Genocide

    ISSUE OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN TURKISH PARLIAMENT

    Abdullah Gul Denies

    Abdullah Gul, Turkish deputy prime minister, stated that the program of
    Ankara's "actions against the statements about the so-called Armenian
    genocide" will be discussed at the Turkish parliament on April 13. Gul said
    this at the airport during his trip to Algeria.

    The Turkish press is littered with the articles denying the Armenian
    Genocide. Though negatively, but the neighboring country arouses greater
    noise around the massacres of 1,5 million of Armenians committed in the
    early 20th century in the Ottoman Turkey.

    "I am going to give some explanations concerning the statements of the
    Armenians, adding that Turkey can be more active and brave in this issue,"
    Sabah daily quoted Gul as saying.

    This will be the first discussion of the Armenian Genocide at the Turkish
    parliament, certainly in the negative context. On April 5, the Committee for
    Harmonic Relations with EU at Turkish Parliament also discussed the issue of
    "the Armenian allegations" during its sitting.

    Ropper Hattechian, editor-in-chief of Istanbul-based Marmara daily, said in
    the interview to daily Azg the idea to discuss the events of the early 20th
    century in the Ottoman Turkey belongs to a group of parliament members of
    oppositional democratic-republican and Justice and Prosperity centrist
    parties.

    Hattechian said that the Turkish press is full of articles about the
    Armenian Genocide, today. He said that it's natural that they are going to
    deny the Genocide in their speeches at parliament, including Abdullah Gul.

    NTV informed that Ahmed Necdet Sezer, Turkish President, touched upon the
    Armenian Genocide on April 9. Holding a speech at the Istanbul Military
    Academy, Sezer said that the statements saying that the Ottoman Empire
    committed a genocide against its Armenian citizens are offensive to the
    Turkish people.

    Sezer said that one should carry out an investigation when touching upon the
    historical issues, using documents that reflect objective and unprejudiced
    attitude.

    This January, when Mehmed Ali Birand, Turkish well-known journalist, warned
    about the danger of "the Armenian Tsunami," the Turkish mass media began
    dwelling on the issue more and more frequently.

    Zaman newspaper said in April 9 issue, in "What Does Genocide Mean?" article
    that in 1915-16, when the Ottoman Empire decided to evict its Armenian
    citizens, thousands of Armenians died of hunger, cold and attacks. Zaman
    characterized the Armenian Genocide with the term "the great tragedy."

    Turkish Daily News online news portal wrote in its April 7 issue that Ankara
    gave its consent for opening a new Yerevan-Antalia air route. The newspaper
    cited an unknown official who said that "this gesture of Turkey will help
    release the tension between the two countries," caused by the conclusions
    about "the so-called Armenian genocide."

    The newspaper reminded that the Turkish officials allowed "Armavia" company
    to make flights between Istanbul and Yerevan. CNN-Turk informed that in 2004
    the number of the Armenians that spend their holidays in Turkey amounted to
    50 thousand.

    Turkish Daily News reminded that on April 24 the Armenians are going to
    commemorate the anniversary of "the so-called Armenian genocide." "Over 90
    congressmen applied to president Bush with a letter, calling for recognizing
    the statements about the Genocide. But the Turkish authorities, including
    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, are sure that the Bush administration
    is likely to avert this step, as, otherwise, it may seriously damage the
    Turkish-American relations."

    By Tatoul Hakobian
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