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Erdogan: German decision 'wrong and ugly'
Journal of Turkish Weekly
Jule 18 2005
ANKARA - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has labelled as
"very wrong and very ugly" the decision announced yesterday by the
German Federal Parliament to officially recognize and accept the
so-called Armenian genocide. "History will embarass them," said
PM Erdogan.
Recalling how German Prime Minister Gerhard Schroeder had shown great
support for the Turkish stance and efforts towards solutions to the
Armenian claims, PM Erdogan said bitterly, "I admire politics with
bones, politics with a backbone."
'Massacre,' not 'genocide'
At a press conference held at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport on his return
from a trip to Lebanon, PM Erdogan reminded reporters that the German
parliamentary decision used the word "massacre" and not "genocide"
to describe the events of 1915. A brief summary of the PM's other
comments on the matter follows:
"We find this decision by the German lobby, which was done without
adequate discussion, and at the bidding of some basic lobbies, very
wrong..... and beyond wrong, just ugly. We spoke with them about
this. We opened our archives. We invited them to have historians,
politicians, judges look at our archives and decide for themselves.
But they never came. And now, history will embarass them. The future
will embarass them."
Erdogan was particularly sharp in his words about the contrast
between German PM Schroeder's attitude towards the matter while in
Turkey last month, and yesterday's decision in Berlin: "...Didn't
you hear Schroeder while he was here? He said 'I support to what
PM Erdogan is doing and saying on the matter.' We thought that this
would continue back in Germany. Maybe he tried and wasn't successful,
I just don't know."
During the Armenian Riot many Armenians died due to ethnic clashes,
epidemic diseases and famine. More than 500,000 Turkish people were
masscred by the Armenian armed groups.
Journal of Turkish Weekly
Jule 18 2005
ANKARA - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has labelled as
"very wrong and very ugly" the decision announced yesterday by the
German Federal Parliament to officially recognize and accept the
so-called Armenian genocide. "History will embarass them," said
PM Erdogan.
Recalling how German Prime Minister Gerhard Schroeder had shown great
support for the Turkish stance and efforts towards solutions to the
Armenian claims, PM Erdogan said bitterly, "I admire politics with
bones, politics with a backbone."
'Massacre,' not 'genocide'
At a press conference held at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport on his return
from a trip to Lebanon, PM Erdogan reminded reporters that the German
parliamentary decision used the word "massacre" and not "genocide"
to describe the events of 1915. A brief summary of the PM's other
comments on the matter follows:
"We find this decision by the German lobby, which was done without
adequate discussion, and at the bidding of some basic lobbies, very
wrong..... and beyond wrong, just ugly. We spoke with them about
this. We opened our archives. We invited them to have historians,
politicians, judges look at our archives and decide for themselves.
But they never came. And now, history will embarass them. The future
will embarass them."
Erdogan was particularly sharp in his words about the contrast
between German PM Schroeder's attitude towards the matter while in
Turkey last month, and yesterday's decision in Berlin: "...Didn't
you hear Schroeder while he was here? He said 'I support to what
PM Erdogan is doing and saying on the matter.' We thought that this
would continue back in Germany. Maybe he tried and wasn't successful,
I just don't know."
During the Armenian Riot many Armenians died due to ethnic clashes,
epidemic diseases and famine. More than 500,000 Turkish people were
masscred by the Armenian armed groups.