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Turkey to fight genocide claims
>>From correspondents in Ankara, Turkey
Advertiser Adelaide, Australia
Australian, Australia
March 25 2005
TURKEY has enlisted the help of a United States historian today as
part of its campaign to counter damaging, decades-old claims Armenians
suffered genocide at Ottoman Turkish hands during and after World
War I.
Turkey is worried the 90th anniversary of the alleged genocide on
April 24 will trigger a fresh outpouring of sympathy for the Armenians
which could harm Turkey's image and even derail the planned start of
European Union entry talks in October.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan went on the offensive earlier this month,
calling for an impartial study of the genocide claims and declaring
Turkey's archives open to all scholars.
Invited to address the Ankara parliament today, Justin McCarthy,
an expert on the Ottoman period, argued a complex historical tragedy
had been manipulated for ideological reasons, becoming a vehicle for
anti-Muslim, anti-Turkish prejudice.
"The Armenian question has from the start been a political
campaign... Yes, many Armenians were killed by Turks at this time and
many Turks were killed by Armenians, but this was war, not genocide,"
Mr McCarthy said.
"Many politicians use the Armenian genocide not so much because
they believe it but because they see it as a means to prevent Turkey
joining the European Union," said Mr McCarthy.
Armenia says 1.5 million of its people died between 1915 and 1923
on Ottoman territory in a systematic genocide and says the decision
to carry it out was taken by the political party then in power in
Istanbul, popularly known as the Young Turks.
Turkey denies genocide, saying the Armenians were victims of
a partisan war during World War I which claimed even more Turkish
Muslim lives. Turkey accuses Armenians of carrying out massacres
while siding with invading Russian troops.
Mr McCarthy urged Turkey to fund translations from Turkish into English
and other European languages of historical records and books providing
documentary evidence there was no genocide.
Foreign diplomats said Turkey's support for an impartial study of
the genocide issue, possibly under the aegis of the United Nations,
was a positive development.
But they said inviting an opponent of the genocide claims to address
lawmakers who largely shared his views would merely reconfirm, not
challenge, people's firmly held views.
It would have been more fruitful to invite people of differing opinions
on the subject to the parliament, said one.
"They are still very timid," the diplomat said.
Armenia, a tiny ex-Soviet republic which has no diplomatic relations
with Turkey, has rejected Mr Erdogan's proposal for an impartial
investigation, saying scholars had already established the genocide
as indisputable fact.
The European Parliament and several national assemblies from France to
Canada have also backed the claims in recent years, passing resolutions
urging Turkey to accept its past misdeeds.
Some EU politicians, notably in France, home to Europe's largest
community in the Armenian diaspora, say Turkey must accept the genocide
claims before it can start talks to join the wealthy bloc.
>>From correspondents in Ankara, Turkey
Advertiser Adelaide, Australia
Australian, Australia
March 25 2005
TURKEY has enlisted the help of a United States historian today as
part of its campaign to counter damaging, decades-old claims Armenians
suffered genocide at Ottoman Turkish hands during and after World
War I.
Turkey is worried the 90th anniversary of the alleged genocide on
April 24 will trigger a fresh outpouring of sympathy for the Armenians
which could harm Turkey's image and even derail the planned start of
European Union entry talks in October.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan went on the offensive earlier this month,
calling for an impartial study of the genocide claims and declaring
Turkey's archives open to all scholars.
Invited to address the Ankara parliament today, Justin McCarthy,
an expert on the Ottoman period, argued a complex historical tragedy
had been manipulated for ideological reasons, becoming a vehicle for
anti-Muslim, anti-Turkish prejudice.
"The Armenian question has from the start been a political
campaign... Yes, many Armenians were killed by Turks at this time and
many Turks were killed by Armenians, but this was war, not genocide,"
Mr McCarthy said.
"Many politicians use the Armenian genocide not so much because
they believe it but because they see it as a means to prevent Turkey
joining the European Union," said Mr McCarthy.
Armenia says 1.5 million of its people died between 1915 and 1923
on Ottoman territory in a systematic genocide and says the decision
to carry it out was taken by the political party then in power in
Istanbul, popularly known as the Young Turks.
Turkey denies genocide, saying the Armenians were victims of
a partisan war during World War I which claimed even more Turkish
Muslim lives. Turkey accuses Armenians of carrying out massacres
while siding with invading Russian troops.
Mr McCarthy urged Turkey to fund translations from Turkish into English
and other European languages of historical records and books providing
documentary evidence there was no genocide.
Foreign diplomats said Turkey's support for an impartial study of
the genocide issue, possibly under the aegis of the United Nations,
was a positive development.
But they said inviting an opponent of the genocide claims to address
lawmakers who largely shared his views would merely reconfirm, not
challenge, people's firmly held views.
It would have been more fruitful to invite people of differing opinions
on the subject to the parliament, said one.
"They are still very timid," the diplomat said.
Armenia, a tiny ex-Soviet republic which has no diplomatic relations
with Turkey, has rejected Mr Erdogan's proposal for an impartial
investigation, saying scholars had already established the genocide
as indisputable fact.
The European Parliament and several national assemblies from France to
Canada have also backed the claims in recent years, passing resolutions
urging Turkey to accept its past misdeeds.
Some EU politicians, notably in France, home to Europe's largest
community in the Armenian diaspora, say Turkey must accept the genocide
claims before it can start talks to join the wealthy bloc.