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ANKARA: Turkey Protests Polish Parliament Stance On Armenian Claims

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  • ANKARA: Turkey Protests Polish Parliament Stance On Armenian Claims

    Turkish Press
    April 27 2005

    Turkey Protests Polish Parliament's Stance On Armenian Claims


    ANKARA - Turkish parliament decided on Wednesday to protest the
    Polish parliament's resolution on so-called Armenian genocide
    allegations.

    Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc sent a letter to his Polish
    counterpart Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, condemning this resolution
    adopted on April 19th, while Polish parliamentarians' visit to
    Turkish parliament was cancelled.

    Members of the Polish-Turkish Interparliamentary Friendship Group
    were scheduled to visit Turkey between May 25th and 30th.

    On the other hand, Turkish parliament decided not to send a
    representative to the ''parliamentary marathon and semi-marathon
    championships'' held in Poland. Two parliamentarians were expected to
    represent Turkey in this event.

    ''A VERY UNFORTUNATE DEVELOPMENT''

    In the letter he sent to Cimoszewics, Arinc expressed his sorrow and
    disappointment with approval of the resolution by the Polish
    parliament.

    Arinc wrote in his letter, ''our nation has felt deep sorrow over a
    friendly parliament's biased interpretation of the tragic incidents
    that occurred between the Turks and Armenians under the circumstances
    of the World War I. We can't accept use of those days as a tool for
    political intentions, which would cause prejudices against Turkey and
    Turkish people.''

    ''National parliaments are not the appropriate places of making
    judgments about disputable days of history. I think that parliaments
    should exert efforts to create atmospheres which will enable
    improvement of friendship and cooperation among nations and countries
    (instead of acting this way),'' said Arinc.

    Noting that Turkey had always argued that disputable historical
    periods should be assessed and examined by historians, Arinc said
    that therefore, Turkey had opened its archives to all researchers.

    Arinc stated that Turkey had also proposed Armenia to form a joint
    committee comprised of Turkish and Armenian historians which would
    examine the 1915 incidents in all the related archives.

    Drawing attention that Turkish parliament had issued a statement and
    supported this proposal, Arinc said, ''despite these bona fide
    initiatives of our country, the resolution adopted by the Polish
    parliament has been a very unfortunate development regarding our
    bilateral relations. It is not possible to link this resolution to
    the long friendly relations between our nations.''
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