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ANKARA: From the Columns: Is Turkey maintaining its old stanceregard

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  • ANKARA: From the Columns: Is Turkey maintaining its old stanceregard

    Turkish Daily News
    Friday, March 11 2005

    >>From the Columns:

    The alleged Armenian genocide that was supposed to have occurred
    during the latter years of Ottoman rule and the reaction of the
    Turkish government, European Union officials and the European
    Parliament to the excessive use of force on female demonstrators
    dominated the columns in yesterday's Turkish press.



    Is Turkey maintaining its old stance regarding alleged genocide?

    Sabah's Mehmet Barlas criticizes the ruling Justice and Development
    Party (AKP) and the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP)
    for maintaining the old discourse regarding the issue of an alleged
    genocide of Armenians that is supposed to have occurred from
    1915-1916 at the hands of the Ottomans.

    Quoting the late former President Turgut Özal's reported proposal
    to Turkish Ambassador to the United States Nüzhet Kandemir to
    recognize the events of 1915 as a genocide and to put an end to the
    ongoing discussions, Barlas said that Kandemir had responded to Özal
    by saying that the issue was too complicated to be resolved
    overnight.

    Barlas asks what has been done regarding the issue in the 12 years
    since the death of Özal?

    Highlighting remarks made by government members and officials
    saying that the Armenian genocide issue should be left to historians,
    Barlas asks why nobody looked over the work of prominent Armenian
    historians Vahak Dadrian [an academic in the United States] and Peter
    Balakian [the author of books on Armenian issue].

    After noting reactions to well-known Turkish author Orhan Pamuk,
    who said that 1 million Armenians were killed in Turkey, Barlas also
    asks why the ideas of Professor Halil Berktay, an academic from
    Sabancý University, who argues for the identification of the events
    of 1915 as genocide, are not regarded as being worth considering.



    Facing the past is better than turning a blind eye:

    Yeni Þafak's Yasin Dogan also focuses on the Armenian issue and
    appreciates the commitments made by the ruling AKP and the main
    opposition CHP to face and fight the claims of the alleged Armenian
    genocide.

    Dogan says that anyone can easily cling to the falsity of the
    arguments claiming that Turkey had committed a systematic genocide of
    Armenian people.

    Further elaborating on the allegations, Dogan says that even if
    some mistakes were made, it would still be wrong to hold the Turkish
    Republic or even the Ottoman Empire accountable for the acts today.

    Dogan concludes by saying that the goal is to eradicate hatred
    between Turks and Armenians and to leave that negative atmosphere in
    the past.

    --Boundary_(ID_4ITEEs4LbODH/kg05HekfA)--
    From: Baghdasarian
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