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DEPORTATION OF ARMENIANS 'INHUMANE': TURKEY FM
World Desk
http://www.tehrantimes.com/component/content/article/112781
On Line: 13 December 2013 17:44
In Print: Saturday 14 December 2013
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu described the deportation of
Armenians under the Ottoman empire as "inhumane" during a fence-mending
visit to Yerevan this week, Turkish media reported Friday.
Davutoglu made the comments to Turkish journalists travelling with him
to Armenia Thursday on his first visit since moves to open diplomatic
ties between the neighbors failed four years ago.
He described the large-scale deportation of Armenians to Syria in
1915 as a "totally wrong practice done by (the Ottoman-era rulers),"
Hurriyet Daily News quoted him as saying.
"It was inhumane," he said.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were systematically
killed during World War I under the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor
of modern Turkey.
Turkey says 500,000 died in fighting and of starvation and
categorically rejects the term genocide.
Davutoglu said after meeting his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian
that he hoped the two countries could build a relationship based on a
"just memory".
Ankara closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with
regional ally Azerbaijan in its festering dispute with Yerevan over
Nagorny Karabakh.
The two countries signed reconciliation accords in 2009 but the
U.S.-backed rapprochement collapsed within six months with each side
accusing the other of setting new conditions and rewriting parts of
the agreements.
(Source: AFP)
From: A. Papazian
World Desk
http://www.tehrantimes.com/component/content/article/112781
On Line: 13 December 2013 17:44
In Print: Saturday 14 December 2013
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu described the deportation of
Armenians under the Ottoman empire as "inhumane" during a fence-mending
visit to Yerevan this week, Turkish media reported Friday.
Davutoglu made the comments to Turkish journalists travelling with him
to Armenia Thursday on his first visit since moves to open diplomatic
ties between the neighbors failed four years ago.
He described the large-scale deportation of Armenians to Syria in
1915 as a "totally wrong practice done by (the Ottoman-era rulers),"
Hurriyet Daily News quoted him as saying.
"It was inhumane," he said.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were systematically
killed during World War I under the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor
of modern Turkey.
Turkey says 500,000 died in fighting and of starvation and
categorically rejects the term genocide.
Davutoglu said after meeting his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian
that he hoped the two countries could build a relationship based on a
"just memory".
Ankara closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with
regional ally Azerbaijan in its festering dispute with Yerevan over
Nagorny Karabakh.
The two countries signed reconciliation accords in 2009 but the
U.S.-backed rapprochement collapsed within six months with each side
accusing the other of setting new conditions and rewriting parts of
the agreements.
(Source: AFP)
From: A. Papazian