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ANKARA: 'U.S. Governments Never Described The Events Of 1915 As Geno

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  • ANKARA: 'U.S. Governments Never Described The Events Of 1915 As Geno

    'U.S. GOVERNMENTS NEVER DESCRIBED THE EVENTS OF 1915 AS GENOCIDE'
    By Selcuk Gultasli

    Zaman, Turkey
    Oct 21 2006

    * US Urges France to Promote Discussion

    The United States has expressed it views on the Armenian genocide
    legislation criminalizing the denial of the issue, noting that it
    did not make sense.

    Washington, which has taken a firm stance against the regulation,
    called on Paris "not to take sides but to promote the debate in Turkey
    and the dialogue between Turkey and Armenia."

    Fried Meets Reporters

    U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Daniel Fried
    spoke on Friday in Brussels to a small group of reporters, including
    some from Zaman.

    Asked by a Zaman, Turkish daily, reporter to assess the bill, he said
    "this is a very intricate matter, and it deserves a comprehensive
    answer."

    Noting that French President Jacques Chirac had sounded his concerns
    about the bill, Fried said, "We believe those concerns to be right
    ones," and he emphasized that the U.S. governments never described
    the events of 1915 as "genocide."

    "This doesn't mean that we belittle or deny the mass killings that
    took place in 1915. President Bush has always accentuated his grief
    caused by the events" said Fried.

    Fried emphasized that forbidding any discussion about the issue made
    no sense and said "Every country has parts in its history that it
    is not proud of. For instance, slavery, the maltreatment of American
    Indians, and the gathering of Japanese-origin American citizens into
    camps during World War II are such examples from my country."

    Fried also said that his country discusses all such subjects
    transparently just the way it has to be in modern societies and Turkey
    should be encouraged to do so as well.

    Warning that "the French bill is not going to promote discussion,"
    Fried uttered that the responsibility of other countries involved
    were to foster the air of discussion in Turkey and the efforts for
    dialogue between Turkey and Armenia.

    Also calling on France "to promote dialogue instead of taking sides,"
    he pointed out that the subject in Turkey was already being discussed
    and Turkish intellectuals had started adopting different angles to
    evaluate the events of 1915.

    It was very unusual of Fried to call on both the Turkish and Armenian
    side to look at the 1915 events "with pain but honestly."

    Also touching on the Cyprus matter, Fried said they hoped that a
    train wreck would not occur between Turkey and the European Union
    and considered it a positive development that none of the parties
    had rejected the Finnish plan yet.

    Praising the president of Turkish Cyprus Mehmet Ali Talat's efforts
    toward a solution, Fried never mentioned Tassos Papadopoulos, the
    president of Greek Cyprus.
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