PRESS RELEASE
Federation of Armenian Organizations in The Netherlands
April 24 Committee
For Recognition and Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide of 1915
Contact: Mrs. I. Drost
Tel. 070 4490209
E-mail: april24committee@wanadoo.nl
K.v.K. 27264382

EU can only end the systematic denial of genocide of 1915 now

The Hague, 22 September 2004 – The Armenian Federation has again appealed in
a letter to the government and parliament to move Turkey to make an end to
the systematic denial of the genocide of Armenians and the crimes against
other Christian minorities in WW I, and to normalise the relations with
neighbouring country Armenia. An earlier call on this issue to the Foreign
Affairs minister and Secretary Of State of the Netherlands to the address
of their Turkish colleagues failed to yield any visible results.

The European Commission – the executive body of the European Union in
Brussels – will present a report on Turkey on October 6. This document is
decisive for the question of whether Turkey can become a member of the EU.
Turkey has been in the waiting room of the EU for forty-one years. However,
the Armenians have been waiting longer. They want for the genocide of 1915
to be finally recognised. However, Turkey has kept her door closed for 89
years. And each year again another year is added to this one.

The current Turkish republic was founded on the first systematic genocide of
the twentieth century. In 1915, 1.5 million Armenians were deported and
killed by the Turkish rulers, among others by Kemal Atatürk, who wanted to
establish (with violence) a secular state of the Ottoman Empire. In 1923,
the task had been completed: the Turkish republic was founded and nothing
more was mentioned of the genocide. The Armenians have already struggled for
three generations for recognition of the injustice that has been done to
them.

The Austrian writer Franz Werfel (1890-1945) of Jewish descent had already
attempted to bring the Armenian genocide to light before World War II . In
his novel ³The Forty Days of Musa Dagh² (1938), which deals with the
Armenian Genocide, he outlined a spectre for what could happen to the Jews
in Europe. His warning could not prevent the destruction of the European
Jews. In 1939, on the eve of the Holocaust, even Adolf Hitler brushed aside
the Armenian Genocide as irrelevant.

Notwithstanding, modern-day Turkey continues to carry out the policy of
denial to this day. According to the Turkish government the Armenian
Genocide is a fabrication. Stronger still: the Turkish minister of education
recently ordered all primary schools to write an essay in certain classes in
which they had to describe the official reading of the history on this
point. The schools were also obliged to dedicate a conference on this
issue. Teachers who had the courage to refuse to follow this order, were
arrested. Here, in the least, the rights of minorities and freedom of
speech are an issue. Therefore Turkey does not qualify yet for the so-called
Copenhagen criteria which serve as a test for the commencement of
negotiations for the accession of Turkey to the EU.

It needs little argumentation (compare for example with denial of the
Holocaust) that such a question – Copenhagen criteria or not – is of
overwhelming and humanitarian importance. In this respect, it is interesting
that the French socialist party, – to avoid discussion on this and moreover,
as a party favourable for Turkey¹s accession, – explicitly puts the
recognition of the Armenian Genocide as a condition for the accession of
Turkey to the EU. Possibly this is an example to follow.

With a letter, the Armenian Federation has again called on (the Dutch
government and) the Dutch parliament to put pressure on Turkey for the
recognition of the genocide of Armenians and other Christians at the
beginning of the previous century. The denial of it up to the present is
unacceptable for many countries and for the Armenians spread throughout the
whole world. The denial is moreover the most important cause for the bad
relations between Turkey and neighbouring country Armenia. Therefore the
border is closed on the Turkish side and there are no diplomatic relations
between Turkey and Armenia.

The Federation indicates that at this moment everything seems to be possible
in Turkey, big and fast changes, small improvements, reform bills are
submitted and adopted and if necessary partly withdrawn. The Federation of
course welcomes with joy each improvement, but these changes also highlight
the refusal to change the policy on the denial of the genocide and the
negative consequences thereof, like the bad relations with Armenia. Recently
Dutch government members Bot and Nicolai indicted in the Parliament that
they and EU leaders have explicitly questioned their Turkish colleagues on
this issue. This was made clear from the consultation that these government
members conducted in the Dutch Parliament. They appear, however, to speak to
deaf ears. On this point, Turkey leaves the EU and the Armenians in the
dark.

The Federation of Armenian Organisations in the Netherlands calls on the
Dutch government in her position of President of the European Union to
express explicitly its care for this question and to indicate that denial of
the genocide is of such an importance that accession negotiations are
unthinkable under this denial. In this context, the Netherlands must
emphasise that Europe should not allow itself to blur its own eyes with
remarks that later (once Turkey becomes/is the EU member) all will be good.
This is only possible if a statement is fixed now. The European Union only
now has a chance to stop Turkey¹s policy of systematic denial.

Moreover, at European level the Armenians and human rights organisations are
trying to attract the necessary attention to this problem. In this respect,
during a press conference on 22 September in Brussels the co-operating human
right and humanitarian organisations of several European countries will
present a memorandum concerning these questions.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress