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US SAYS RECOGNITION OF 'FACTS' IS IN EVERYONE'S INTEREST OVER 1915 EVENTS
Cihan News Agency, Turkey
April 15 2015
CIHAN | ISTANBUL- 15.04.2015 19:50:10
The United States on Tuesday said it has frequently acknowledged the
"Armenian massacre" in the final days of the Ottoman Empire as a
historical fact, and stressed that the acknowledgement of "the facts"
is in all parties' interest, including Turkey, Armenia and the US.
"The president and other senior Administration officials have
repeatedly acknowledged as historical fact and mourned the fact that
1.5 million Armenians were massacred or marched to their deaths
in the final days of the Ottoman Empire, and stated that a full,
frank and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all our interests,
including Turkey's, Armenia's and America's," US State Department
deputy spokesperson Marie Harf said in an answer to a question asking
the US's position on the 100th anniversary of the 1915 events, which
Armenians claim to be a genocide of their people at the hands of the
late Ottoman Empire.
"One of the principles, I think, that's guided the administration's
work in this area and in atrocity prevention more broadly is
that nations are stronger and they progress by acknowledging and
reckoning with pretty painful elements of their past; doing so is
really essential to building a different, more tolerant future,"
Harf concluded.
The issue has been a source of friction between the two allies, with
Ankara pressuring Washington to refrain from the use of the word
genocide on the anniversary of the Armenian massacre every April 24.
With the centenary of the event approaching, the Obama administration's
position is now of even more crucial importance for both sides,
as well as for Turkey and the Armenian diaspora living in the US.
Pope Francis described the mass killings of Armenians under Ottoman
rule at the end of World War I as "the first genocide of the 20th
century," during Mass on Sunday in which the Armenian Catholic rite
was celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica to honor the centenary of the
1915 events, adding that "concealing or denying evil is like allowing
a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it."
After the pope's remarks, Turkey immediately recalled its ambassador
to the Holy See, Mehmet Pacacı, for "consultations." The Vatican's
ambassador in Ankara, Archbishop Antonio Lucibello, was summoned to
the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Sunday as well.
Turkey accepts that many Armenians died during the World War I years,
but says the death toll offered by the Armenians, up to 1.5 million
people, is inflated, and denies that the deaths resulted from an act
of genocide. Ankara says Turks were also killed when Armenians took up
arms in pursuit of an independent state in collaboration with Russian
forces that were invading Eastern Anatolia at the time. Armenia,
on the other hand, accuses the Ottoman authorities of the time of
systematically massacring large numbers of Armenians, then deporting
many more, including women, children, the elderly and the infirm,
in terrible conditions on so-called death marches.
(Cihan/Today's Zaman)
http://en.cihan.com.tr/news/US-says-recognition-of-facts-is-in-everyones-interest-over-1915-events_9536-CHMTc0OTUzNg==
From: A. Papazian
Cihan News Agency, Turkey
April 15 2015
CIHAN | ISTANBUL- 15.04.2015 19:50:10
The United States on Tuesday said it has frequently acknowledged the
"Armenian massacre" in the final days of the Ottoman Empire as a
historical fact, and stressed that the acknowledgement of "the facts"
is in all parties' interest, including Turkey, Armenia and the US.
"The president and other senior Administration officials have
repeatedly acknowledged as historical fact and mourned the fact that
1.5 million Armenians were massacred or marched to their deaths
in the final days of the Ottoman Empire, and stated that a full,
frank and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all our interests,
including Turkey's, Armenia's and America's," US State Department
deputy spokesperson Marie Harf said in an answer to a question asking
the US's position on the 100th anniversary of the 1915 events, which
Armenians claim to be a genocide of their people at the hands of the
late Ottoman Empire.
"One of the principles, I think, that's guided the administration's
work in this area and in atrocity prevention more broadly is
that nations are stronger and they progress by acknowledging and
reckoning with pretty painful elements of their past; doing so is
really essential to building a different, more tolerant future,"
Harf concluded.
The issue has been a source of friction between the two allies, with
Ankara pressuring Washington to refrain from the use of the word
genocide on the anniversary of the Armenian massacre every April 24.
With the centenary of the event approaching, the Obama administration's
position is now of even more crucial importance for both sides,
as well as for Turkey and the Armenian diaspora living in the US.
Pope Francis described the mass killings of Armenians under Ottoman
rule at the end of World War I as "the first genocide of the 20th
century," during Mass on Sunday in which the Armenian Catholic rite
was celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica to honor the centenary of the
1915 events, adding that "concealing or denying evil is like allowing
a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it."
After the pope's remarks, Turkey immediately recalled its ambassador
to the Holy See, Mehmet Pacacı, for "consultations." The Vatican's
ambassador in Ankara, Archbishop Antonio Lucibello, was summoned to
the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Sunday as well.
Turkey accepts that many Armenians died during the World War I years,
but says the death toll offered by the Armenians, up to 1.5 million
people, is inflated, and denies that the deaths resulted from an act
of genocide. Ankara says Turks were also killed when Armenians took up
arms in pursuit of an independent state in collaboration with Russian
forces that were invading Eastern Anatolia at the time. Armenia,
on the other hand, accuses the Ottoman authorities of the time of
systematically massacring large numbers of Armenians, then deporting
many more, including women, children, the elderly and the infirm,
in terrible conditions on so-called death marches.
(Cihan/Today's Zaman)
http://en.cihan.com.tr/news/US-says-recognition-of-facts-is-in-everyones-interest-over-1915-events_9536-CHMTc0OTUzNg==
From: A. Papazian