Tweet
PARIS AND ANKARA LOCKED IN ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DISPUTE
Igor Siletsky
The Voice of Russia
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/12/23/62785574.html
Dec 23 2011
A large number of historians and 18 nations including Russia, Canada,
Argentina, Venezuela, Chile and powers in the EU agree with Armenia
that the Ottoman Empire slaughtered 1.5 million of its ethnic Armenians
in 1915, leaving Turkey with hardly any Armenians left at all. They
also agree that the slaughter amounted to genocide. Turkey disputes
both the death toll and the nature of the 1915 events. It argues the
killings were part of WWI, in which Turks also died, and had nothing
to do with genocide.
In the latest turn of the dispute, Turkey has recalled its Ambassador
from France after the Lower House of the French Parliament passed
a bill to make it a criminal offence to deny that the mass killing
of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire almost 100 years ago amounted to
genocide. Speaking in Istanbul Friday Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan also accused France of unleashing genocide during the
independence war in Algeria, where French forces are believed to have
killed 15 percent of the country's population.
If the French bill is passed by the Senate, France will have as many
as two genocide denial bans - one applying to the Nazi Holocaust
of the European Jews, and the other to the Ottoman slaughter of
the Armenians. Offenders will face at least a year in jail or a
45-thousand-euro fine. By pushing through the latter ban, Sarkozy
is delivering on his 2007 campaign pledges to France's influential
Armenian community.
Dr Boris Dolgov of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian
Academy of Sciences also sees a link to France's next presidential
elections:
"The French government argues that Turkey cannot be allowed to join the
European Union as long as it refuses to recognize its responsibility
for the 1915 genocide. In fact, however, Sarkozy's party is seeking
to boost his support base in the next presidential elections in 2012
by an estimated half a million Armenian votes in France."
Nor is Turkey prepared to climb down. We have an opinion from Dr
Alexander Sotnichenko of the Moscow-based Institute of the Middle East:
"Turkey is highly unlikely to admit that is has something like
the Holocaust on its national conscience. Indeed, admitting its
responsibility for the slaughter would revive Armenia's claims to the
parts of Turkish territory that became Turkey under the 1921 peace
treaties signed in Moscow and Kars. It would also lead to massive
compensation claims."
Turkey's current row is with France. The two previous ones were with
Sweden and the United States. In its row with Sweden, Turkey recalled
but subsequently returned its Ambassador to Stockholm. In its spat
with the US, it recalled but subsequently returned its Ambassador
to Washington. The recall followed a committee resolution in the US
Congress to regard the 1915 slaughter as an instance of genocide. The
return followed a speech by Barack Obama on Slaughtered Armenians
Memory Day on April 24th in which he carefully avoided using the word
'genocide'. Observers believe the current row between Turkey and
France will eventually follow a similar scenario.
Igor Siletsky
The Voice of Russia
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/12/23/62785574.html
Dec 23 2011
A large number of historians and 18 nations including Russia, Canada,
Argentina, Venezuela, Chile and powers in the EU agree with Armenia
that the Ottoman Empire slaughtered 1.5 million of its ethnic Armenians
in 1915, leaving Turkey with hardly any Armenians left at all. They
also agree that the slaughter amounted to genocide. Turkey disputes
both the death toll and the nature of the 1915 events. It argues the
killings were part of WWI, in which Turks also died, and had nothing
to do with genocide.
In the latest turn of the dispute, Turkey has recalled its Ambassador
from France after the Lower House of the French Parliament passed
a bill to make it a criminal offence to deny that the mass killing
of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire almost 100 years ago amounted to
genocide. Speaking in Istanbul Friday Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan also accused France of unleashing genocide during the
independence war in Algeria, where French forces are believed to have
killed 15 percent of the country's population.
If the French bill is passed by the Senate, France will have as many
as two genocide denial bans - one applying to the Nazi Holocaust
of the European Jews, and the other to the Ottoman slaughter of
the Armenians. Offenders will face at least a year in jail or a
45-thousand-euro fine. By pushing through the latter ban, Sarkozy
is delivering on his 2007 campaign pledges to France's influential
Armenian community.
Dr Boris Dolgov of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian
Academy of Sciences also sees a link to France's next presidential
elections:
"The French government argues that Turkey cannot be allowed to join the
European Union as long as it refuses to recognize its responsibility
for the 1915 genocide. In fact, however, Sarkozy's party is seeking
to boost his support base in the next presidential elections in 2012
by an estimated half a million Armenian votes in France."
Nor is Turkey prepared to climb down. We have an opinion from Dr
Alexander Sotnichenko of the Moscow-based Institute of the Middle East:
"Turkey is highly unlikely to admit that is has something like
the Holocaust on its national conscience. Indeed, admitting its
responsibility for the slaughter would revive Armenia's claims to the
parts of Turkish territory that became Turkey under the 1921 peace
treaties signed in Moscow and Kars. It would also lead to massive
compensation claims."
Turkey's current row is with France. The two previous ones were with
Sweden and the United States. In its row with Sweden, Turkey recalled
but subsequently returned its Ambassador to Stockholm. In its spat
with the US, it recalled but subsequently returned its Ambassador
to Washington. The recall followed a committee resolution in the US
Congress to regard the 1915 slaughter as an instance of genocide. The
return followed a speech by Barack Obama on Slaughtered Armenians
Memory Day on April 24th in which he carefully avoided using the word
'genocide'. Observers believe the current row between Turkey and
France will eventually follow a similar scenario.