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Turkish premier dismisses Armenian genocide allegations
Anatolia news agency
18 May 05
Ankara, 18 May: "Turkey has not committed genocide through its history,
so it is impossible for us to accept such accusations", Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday [18 May].
Addressing the gathering of his governing Justice and Development Party
(AKP), Erdogan said that the so-called Armenian genocide allegations
were brought to the Council of Europe heads of state and government
summit (held in Polish capital of Warsaw at the beginning of this
week).
Erdogan stated that he was out of the meeting room when Armenian
President Robert Kocharyan was speaking, and drew attention that
Turkey recognized Armenia but there were not any diplomatic links
between the two countries. [Passage omitted]
"During my speech, I said that we have opened our state archives. We
don't have any concerns about our history, and believe that the
reality should be revealed. Armenia should also open its archives. And,
historians, jurists, political scientists and archivists should work
on them. Then, we make the political decision, but unfortunately I
cannot get any positive response from Kocharyan so far," noted Erdogan.
Erdogan went on, saying: "Parliaments of some countries recognize these
so-called Armenian genocide allegations after lobbying activities. This
contradicts international diplomacy. There is no word for assuming such
an attitude without basing on any document or information against a
country with which you are together in international institutions. In
Warsaw, I told reporters that parliaments of 15 countries made such a
decision and we will examine these 15 countries. There are countries
among these 15 which carried out genocide in the past. We will bring
them to our parliament and pass a decision, basing on real documents
and information, not with lobbying. We will take this step because
Turkey had never committed genocide throughout its history."
"But of course, some people might have died during relocation. It
is true. But why were these people forced to migrate? Documents
indicate that the Ottomans were fighting in three fronts and there
was an Armenian nation which started to rebel due to provocations
of some other circles. Naturally, the administration encouraged such
a relocation under these circumstances. But, it also met travelling
costs of the people forced to migrate. And it issued circulars for
protection of these people. There could be raids on the way. But the
state did not carry out a genocide," said Erdogan.
"There might have been some problems for this or that reason, but
it is wrong to define it as genocide. We won't build our future on
hatred and resentment," added Erdogan. [Passage omitted]
Anatolia news agency
18 May 05
Ankara, 18 May: "Turkey has not committed genocide through its history,
so it is impossible for us to accept such accusations", Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday [18 May].
Addressing the gathering of his governing Justice and Development Party
(AKP), Erdogan said that the so-called Armenian genocide allegations
were brought to the Council of Europe heads of state and government
summit (held in Polish capital of Warsaw at the beginning of this
week).
Erdogan stated that he was out of the meeting room when Armenian
President Robert Kocharyan was speaking, and drew attention that
Turkey recognized Armenia but there were not any diplomatic links
between the two countries. [Passage omitted]
"During my speech, I said that we have opened our state archives. We
don't have any concerns about our history, and believe that the
reality should be revealed. Armenia should also open its archives. And,
historians, jurists, political scientists and archivists should work
on them. Then, we make the political decision, but unfortunately I
cannot get any positive response from Kocharyan so far," noted Erdogan.
Erdogan went on, saying: "Parliaments of some countries recognize these
so-called Armenian genocide allegations after lobbying activities. This
contradicts international diplomacy. There is no word for assuming such
an attitude without basing on any document or information against a
country with which you are together in international institutions. In
Warsaw, I told reporters that parliaments of 15 countries made such a
decision and we will examine these 15 countries. There are countries
among these 15 which carried out genocide in the past. We will bring
them to our parliament and pass a decision, basing on real documents
and information, not with lobbying. We will take this step because
Turkey had never committed genocide throughout its history."
"But of course, some people might have died during relocation. It
is true. But why were these people forced to migrate? Documents
indicate that the Ottomans were fighting in three fronts and there
was an Armenian nation which started to rebel due to provocations
of some other circles. Naturally, the administration encouraged such
a relocation under these circumstances. But, it also met travelling
costs of the people forced to migrate. And it issued circulars for
protection of these people. There could be raids on the way. But the
state did not carry out a genocide," said Erdogan.
"There might have been some problems for this or that reason, but
it is wrong to define it as genocide. We won't build our future on
hatred and resentment," added Erdogan. [Passage omitted]