`THE GENOCIDE COMMEMORATION OF THIS YEAR WILL BE A NIGHTMARE FOR TURKEY’
Azg/arm
5 Feb 05
Turkish Newspaper Alarm
Mehmet Ali Birandi, a famous Turkish publicist, warned the Turkish
society on January 4 in Turkish Daily News. “A huge tsunami is
approaching our shores”, wrote Birandi, “I can almost hear it. The sky
is getting darker and the water on the shore is retreating. The
tsunami I am talking about comes as a result of the earthquake among
the Armenian Diaspora and will soon be upon us. If the necessary
precautions are not taken in a timely manner, we might face a huge
calamity. We might never recover. The reason why this tsunami formed
is that on April 24, 2005 is the 90th anniversary of the symbolic date
of the Armenian genocide allegations”.
In a press conference to sum up the achievements of Armenian diplomacy
in 2004 foreign minister Vartan Oskanian confirmed that the
aftereffects of the ` tsunami’ will be alarming for Turkey. He
said that the year of 2005when the Armenian nation commemorates the
90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide is the most proper time to
draw international community’s attention to theissue which is still
actual in many states of the world.
A month later after Birandi’s statement, on February 4, another
Turkish journalists, Oktay Eqshi, warns the Turkish government from
the pages of Hyuriet. But Eqshi does not use terms indicating natural
disasters to describe the threat Turkey face, instead comparing the
coming commemoration with a nightmare.
“As you know, the 90th anniversary of Armenian genocide, as Armenians
call it, will be marked this year on April 24. As the date approaches
we will face more claims, accusations and decisions. The foreign
minister of Armenia, Vartan Oskanian, held forth at an arrangement
dedicated to 60th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation showing that the
Armenians are getting ready for serious activities”.
Alarming of `the coming nightmares’ he poses a question, “What
shall we do?” and answers: “We rejoiced when the Armenians refused to
come to Vienna to exchange documents with Turkish scientists. During
this time the voice of Professor Yusuf Halacoglu, president of Turkish
History Foundation, grew loader. He said: ‘Turkey has to take a
shocking step’. Hiqmet Ozdemir,head of the Center of Armenian Studies,
echoed saying that he is ready to take that step. The Armenians are
united in their actions. Reliable sources inform that they organize 30
thousand arrangements annually to convince the world of the genocide
and allocate $50 million for that purpose”.
Author of the article withholds the names of reliable sources and
incidentally sates addressing Turkish authorities: “Don’t get
surprised if the Bush administration proposes the Congress to take a
decision on `Acknowledgement of the Genocide’. And don’t say
`where did this disaster come?’ if England, Germany, Switzerland
and other states join the US. The French will say in this case: `
You will not join the EU unless you have not apologized to Armenians
as the Germans did to Jews’. There will come a point when they will
demandto `make amends to the Armenians following the Germans’
example’. Ifthey are not satisfied with the amends they may snitch
half of Anatolia calling it `restitution of lands belonging to
Armenians'”.
Oktay Eqshi rounds off appealing to regain consciousness. What does he
mean? If it is an appeal to push ahead the policy of negation then
the Turks should understand that Birandi’s `Armenian tsunami’ and
Eqshi’s `coming nightmare’ are the very results of negation. If
it is an appeal for the Turkish authorities to `take the
offensive in the genocide issue’ then for this goal either they need
to have a firmer ground.
By Hakob Chakrian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress