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AKP FOUNDING MEMBER APOLOGIZES FOR 'GENO-DEPORTATIONS'
asbarez
Thursday, April 26th, 2012
ANKARA (Armenian Weekly)--A founding member of Turkey's ruling AK Party
called the Armenian genocide a "geno-deportation" and "personally"
apologized in an interview with the Turkish daily newspaper Radikal.
Ä°smet Ucma, a member of Turkey's Grand National Assembly, added:
"Their pain is our pain."
The parliament member noted that although the Committee of Union and
Progress was responsible for what happened, he personally apologized
for the suffering of the Armenians during what he called the
"geno-deportations."
Ucma said that although violence was indeed employed against the
Armenian deportees, what happened to the Armenians was not genocide,
but a "geno-deportation," the violent deportation of an entire
ethnic group, because if the perpetrators wanted to commit genocide,
"annihilation methods employed by the Spanish and Portuguese in South
America, or those employed by the Americans against Native-Americans,
or the Germans against the Jews would have been used."
The very annihilation methods that Ucma was referring to were indeed
employed against the Armenians.
Asked about reparations, Ucma said that he finds land demands absurd,
although he noted that no one should live is someone else's house. In
this context, he said, the government's initiative to return some
confiscated property to non-Muslims was a positive step.
The Turkish government has promised to return less than 10 percent of
properties confiscated since the 30â~@²s from non-Muslim minorities. No
properties confiscated during the Armenian genocide have been returned.
Kurdish Parliamentarian to Push for Commemoration Day
In a more meaningful gesture, and according to reports, Kurdish
Parliamentarian Sırrı Sureyya Onder is working on bringing a motion
declaring April 24 a "Day of Mourning and Sharing the Pain of the
Armenian victims of 1915."
Onder is a member of the pro-Kurdish BDP in Istanbul. He is a filmmaker
and columnist who was elected into parliament in 2011.
asbarez
Thursday, April 26th, 2012
ANKARA (Armenian Weekly)--A founding member of Turkey's ruling AK Party
called the Armenian genocide a "geno-deportation" and "personally"
apologized in an interview with the Turkish daily newspaper Radikal.
Ä°smet Ucma, a member of Turkey's Grand National Assembly, added:
"Their pain is our pain."
The parliament member noted that although the Committee of Union and
Progress was responsible for what happened, he personally apologized
for the suffering of the Armenians during what he called the
"geno-deportations."
Ucma said that although violence was indeed employed against the
Armenian deportees, what happened to the Armenians was not genocide,
but a "geno-deportation," the violent deportation of an entire
ethnic group, because if the perpetrators wanted to commit genocide,
"annihilation methods employed by the Spanish and Portuguese in South
America, or those employed by the Americans against Native-Americans,
or the Germans against the Jews would have been used."
The very annihilation methods that Ucma was referring to were indeed
employed against the Armenians.
Asked about reparations, Ucma said that he finds land demands absurd,
although he noted that no one should live is someone else's house. In
this context, he said, the government's initiative to return some
confiscated property to non-Muslims was a positive step.
The Turkish government has promised to return less than 10 percent of
properties confiscated since the 30â~@²s from non-Muslim minorities. No
properties confiscated during the Armenian genocide have been returned.
Kurdish Parliamentarian to Push for Commemoration Day
In a more meaningful gesture, and according to reports, Kurdish
Parliamentarian Sırrı Sureyya Onder is working on bringing a motion
declaring April 24 a "Day of Mourning and Sharing the Pain of the
Armenian victims of 1915."
Onder is a member of the pro-Kurdish BDP in Istanbul. He is a filmmaker
and columnist who was elected into parliament in 2011.