Agence France Presse — English
December 2, 2004 Thursday 6:25 PM GMT

Turkey condemns Slovak parliament resolution on Armenian genocide

ANKARA

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul Thursday denounced as
“unacceptable” a resolution by the Slovak parliament recognising the
1915 massacre under the Ottoman empire of hundreds of thousands of
Armenians as genocide.

On Tuesday, the Slovak parliament adopted a resolution saying: “The
Slovak parliament recognises the genocide of Armenians in 1915 during
which hundreds of thousands of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were
killed and considers this act a crime against humanity.”

But Gul also sought to downplay the issue, saying the initiative was
spearheaded by the Slovak opposition and not the government.

The resolution was adopted in the same session as another one giving
the green light to opening negotiations on Turkey’s accession to the
European Union but were voted on separately, Slovak parliament
spokesman Michal Dyttert said.

“This is unacceptable… We will take the necessary (diplomatic)
steps,” Gul told reporters, but declined to elaborate.

“I think this development is the result of (Slovak) domestic
politics. Opposition parties sometimes behave irresponsibly… The
Slovak government did not support it,” he said.

The Turkish foreign ministry issued a strongly worded statement,
blaming the Slovak resolution on “a fait accompli by one political
party (to) accept as genocide the tragic events of 1915.”

“Passing judgment on the contested periods of another’s history
cannot be among the duties and responsibilities of national
parliaments,” it said.

“It is clear that this decision, taken for political profit by
distorting events that took place under the conditions of World War I
and caused great suffering to Turks and Armenians alike, does not
constitute a responsible course of action,” the statement said.

The massacres of Armenians during World War I is one of the most
controversial episodes in Turkish history.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen were massacred in
orchestrated killings nine decades ago.

Turkey categorically rejects any claims of genocide and says that
300,000 Armenians and thousands of Turks were killed in what was
civil strife during the dissolution years of the Ottoman Empire when
rebellious Armenians sided with invading Russian troops.

Ankara is also under pressure from the EU, which it is seeking to
join, to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia.

In 2001, France triggered a storm in its relations with Turkey when
its parliament passed a law acknowledging the massacres as genocide.

Ankara retaliated by sidelining French companies from public tenders
and cancelled several projects awarded to French firms.