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Turkish Academics Issue Personal Apology For Armenian Genocide

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  • Turkish Academics Issue Personal Apology For Armenian Genocide

    TURKISH ACADEMICS ISSUE PERSONAL APOLOGY FOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

    Chronicle of Higher Education
    Dec 10 2008

    Three Turkish scholars and a journalist have issued a personal public
    apology for their country's role in the killing of as many as 1.5
    million Armenians during the waning days of the Ottoman Empire, which
    modern Turkish governments have refused to characterize as genocide,
    The Guardian, a British newspaper, reported today.

    Academics and journalists who have flouted Turkey's official government
    line on the "Armenian question" have faced prosecution under a
    controversial provision of the country's penal law that criminalizes
    "denigrating Turkishness."

    According to The Guardian, the apology came in an open letter that
    includes the following statement: "My conscience does not accept
    the insensitivity showed to and the denial of the Great Catastrophe
    that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in 1915. I reject this
    injustice and for my share, I empathize with the feelings and pain
    of my Armenian brothers. I apologize to them."

    The Armenian News Agency reported that the statement would be opened
    for signatures online. Armenia Liberty, an online publication, reported
    that nearly 300 Armenian intellectuals appealed to Turkey's president,
    Abdullah Gul, in a separate letter, made public yesterday, to recognize
    the Armenian genocide and modern Turkey's "hereditary responsibility"
    for the "monumental crime against humanity."

    Relations between Turkey and Armenia have thawed in recent months,
    with President Gul making an unprecedented trip in September to
    the Armenian capital. The election of Barack Obama, who a leading
    Armenian-American lobbyist said in an interview with The Armenian
    Reporter "has repeatedly and clearly pledged to affirm the Armenian
    Genocide," is also expected to focus attention on the contentious
    issue. --Aisha Labi
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