Tweet
Breitbart News
Jan 19 2015
Armenians Decry Erdogan's Gallipoli Celebration as a "Provocation"
by Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.19 Jan 20153
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has invited world leaders,
including Armenian President Serzh Sarkysian, to participate in
festivities to be held in Turkey to celebrate the anniversary of the
Battle of Gallipoli on April 24. Coincidentally, that is the very day
when Armenians are preparing to commemorate the hundredth anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks.
Christian Armenians living in Turkey have dubbed Erdogan's move a
"provocation." According to the newspaper Agos, the bilingual Armenian
weekly published in Istanbul, local sources have defined Erdogan's
invitation as "the dishonest action of an ill-mannered person."
For some time now, Armenia has been planning an international event
dedicated to the memory of the Armenian victims, for April 24, 2015,
the centennial of the genocide.
Armenians observe April 24, 1915 as the start of the Armenian
Genocide. On that day, several hundred Armenian intellectuals were
rounded up, arrested, and later executed.
Figures compiled by the University of Minnesota's Center for Holocaust
and Genocide Studies show that there were 2,133,190 Armenians in the
empire in 1914 and only about 387,800 by 1922, a loss of some 1.75
million lives.
In a sternly worded letter, Armenia's President has responded to
Erdogan, condemning Turkey's "traditional policy of denialism" and
assuring him that before he organizes commemorative events, he should
publicly recognize and denounce the genocide.
"Leaving aside the well-known meaning of the Battle of Gallipoli or
the questionable role of Turkey in World War I and World War II,"
Sarkysian writes, "one shall recall that peace and friendship first
and foremost shall be based on the courage to confront the past, on
the historical justice, as well as on recognition of full-fledged
universal memory but never on selective approach."
Why suddenly commemorate the Battle of Gallipoli on April 24, when "it
began on March 18, 1915 and lasted till late January, 1916"? Sarkysian
asks.
Moreover, Sarkysian notes, the allies' land campaign--the Gallipoli
land battle--took place on April 25, 1915.
"What purpose does it serve if not a simple-minded goal to distract
the attention of the international community from the events dedicated
to the centennial of the Armenian Genocide?" he asks.
According to Sarkysian, "before organizing a commemorative event,
Turkey has a much more important obligation towards its own people and
the entire humanity, namely the recognition and condemnation of the
Armenian Genocide."
In a "PS" to the letter, Sarkysian reminds Erdogan that already "a few
months ago I invited you to join us in commemoration of memory of the
innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide in Yerevan on the 24th of
April." Sarkysian retorts that it is not "common practice" to receive
back an invitation for the same date "without receiving a response to
our invitation."
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/01/19/armenians-decry-erdogans-gallipoli-celebration-as-a-provocation/
Jan 19 2015
Armenians Decry Erdogan's Gallipoli Celebration as a "Provocation"
by Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.19 Jan 20153
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has invited world leaders,
including Armenian President Serzh Sarkysian, to participate in
festivities to be held in Turkey to celebrate the anniversary of the
Battle of Gallipoli on April 24. Coincidentally, that is the very day
when Armenians are preparing to commemorate the hundredth anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks.
Christian Armenians living in Turkey have dubbed Erdogan's move a
"provocation." According to the newspaper Agos, the bilingual Armenian
weekly published in Istanbul, local sources have defined Erdogan's
invitation as "the dishonest action of an ill-mannered person."
For some time now, Armenia has been planning an international event
dedicated to the memory of the Armenian victims, for April 24, 2015,
the centennial of the genocide.
Armenians observe April 24, 1915 as the start of the Armenian
Genocide. On that day, several hundred Armenian intellectuals were
rounded up, arrested, and later executed.
Figures compiled by the University of Minnesota's Center for Holocaust
and Genocide Studies show that there were 2,133,190 Armenians in the
empire in 1914 and only about 387,800 by 1922, a loss of some 1.75
million lives.
In a sternly worded letter, Armenia's President has responded to
Erdogan, condemning Turkey's "traditional policy of denialism" and
assuring him that before he organizes commemorative events, he should
publicly recognize and denounce the genocide.
"Leaving aside the well-known meaning of the Battle of Gallipoli or
the questionable role of Turkey in World War I and World War II,"
Sarkysian writes, "one shall recall that peace and friendship first
and foremost shall be based on the courage to confront the past, on
the historical justice, as well as on recognition of full-fledged
universal memory but never on selective approach."
Why suddenly commemorate the Battle of Gallipoli on April 24, when "it
began on March 18, 1915 and lasted till late January, 1916"? Sarkysian
asks.
Moreover, Sarkysian notes, the allies' land campaign--the Gallipoli
land battle--took place on April 25, 1915.
"What purpose does it serve if not a simple-minded goal to distract
the attention of the international community from the events dedicated
to the centennial of the Armenian Genocide?" he asks.
According to Sarkysian, "before organizing a commemorative event,
Turkey has a much more important obligation towards its own people and
the entire humanity, namely the recognition and condemnation of the
Armenian Genocide."
In a "PS" to the letter, Sarkysian reminds Erdogan that already "a few
months ago I invited you to join us in commemoration of memory of the
innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide in Yerevan on the 24th of
April." Sarkysian retorts that it is not "common practice" to receive
back an invitation for the same date "without receiving a response to
our invitation."
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/01/19/armenians-decry-erdogans-gallipoli-celebration-as-a-provocation/