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KNESSET MAY DISCUSS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN 2 WEEKS: HAARETZ
Tert.am
18.06.10
Despite the diplomatic tensions between Israel and Turkey aroused by
last month's botched raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, the Knesset is
scheduled to hold a session later this month on the Armenian genocide
of 1915, which is attributed to the Ottoman Turks, according to the
local Israeli daily Haaretz.
"But due to an agreement between the government and the Knesset,
the discussion will be held not in the plenum, but in a Knesset
committee - most likely the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee,"
writes the newspaper.
Further it mentiones that the Committee chairman Tzachi Hanegbi said
yesterday that if, as expected, the Knesset House Committee selects
the panel he heads to host the session, he will probably schedule
the hearing for two weeks from now.
According to Haaretz several U.S. congressmen from both parties
announced on Wednesday that they were reconsidering their own positions
on whether Turkey's treatment of the Armenians during World War I
should be labeled genocide. At a press conference, the congressmen
expressed concern over Ankara's deepening ties with Iran at the
expense of those with its traditional ally Israel.
The Knesset session is the brainchild of Meretz chairman Haim Oron,
who first suggested a debate be held on the matter a year ago. Oron
said he does not intend to turn the discussion into a "settling of
accounts" with Turkey over the flotilla incident, and plans to ensure
that other lawmakers conduct themselves in a similar vein.
"I think this issue is deeply significant, and that's why I don't want
it to turn into a denigration of our ties with Turkey at the hands of
those who previously didn't even want to hold this debate," Oron said.
In an address to the Knesset plenum a month ago, Oron used unusually
harsh language to denounce Turkey's wartime conduct toward the
Armenians. But he took pains to qualify his remarks, lest he be
accused of making a false historical analogy.
"We must not be part of this denial, because we, the Jewish people,
are hurt by this kind of thinking all the time," he said. "I want
to say this completely clearly: I am not making an analogy between
the Holocaust of the Jewish people and the massacre of the Armenian
nation, as tragic as the latter was. As a Jew, I can of course say
that the Holocaust was unique. And that's why I don't use the same
term in reference to the Armenians."
From: A. Papazian
Tert.am
18.06.10
Despite the diplomatic tensions between Israel and Turkey aroused by
last month's botched raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, the Knesset is
scheduled to hold a session later this month on the Armenian genocide
of 1915, which is attributed to the Ottoman Turks, according to the
local Israeli daily Haaretz.
"But due to an agreement between the government and the Knesset,
the discussion will be held not in the plenum, but in a Knesset
committee - most likely the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee,"
writes the newspaper.
Further it mentiones that the Committee chairman Tzachi Hanegbi said
yesterday that if, as expected, the Knesset House Committee selects
the panel he heads to host the session, he will probably schedule
the hearing for two weeks from now.
According to Haaretz several U.S. congressmen from both parties
announced on Wednesday that they were reconsidering their own positions
on whether Turkey's treatment of the Armenians during World War I
should be labeled genocide. At a press conference, the congressmen
expressed concern over Ankara's deepening ties with Iran at the
expense of those with its traditional ally Israel.
The Knesset session is the brainchild of Meretz chairman Haim Oron,
who first suggested a debate be held on the matter a year ago. Oron
said he does not intend to turn the discussion into a "settling of
accounts" with Turkey over the flotilla incident, and plans to ensure
that other lawmakers conduct themselves in a similar vein.
"I think this issue is deeply significant, and that's why I don't want
it to turn into a denigration of our ties with Turkey at the hands of
those who previously didn't even want to hold this debate," Oron said.
In an address to the Knesset plenum a month ago, Oron used unusually
harsh language to denounce Turkey's wartime conduct toward the
Armenians. But he took pains to qualify his remarks, lest he be
accused of making a false historical analogy.
"We must not be part of this denial, because we, the Jewish people,
are hurt by this kind of thinking all the time," he said. "I want
to say this completely clearly: I am not making an analogy between
the Holocaust of the Jewish people and the massacre of the Armenian
nation, as tragic as the latter was. As a Jew, I can of course say
that the Holocaust was unique. And that's why I don't use the same
term in reference to the Armenians."
From: A. Papazian