`GENOCIDE ISSUE WILL BE RESOLVED NOT WITH DIASPORA BUT WITH ARMENIA’

Azg/arm
5 March 05

On March2, daily Azg informed its readers about a workshop on Armenian
Genocide with the participation of Turkish scientists to launch on
March 5 in Cologne, Germany. Meanwhile we noted that the initiative
will boost few German parties proposal to honor the Genocide victims
in the Bundestag.

Turkish ambassador to Germany, Mehmed Ali Irtemcelik, lashed out at
Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union for the
initiative. Meanwhile, Wolf Ruthart Born, German ambassador to Turkey,
was called to the Foreign Ministry where he was handed in a “notice”
of Ankara. Irtemcelik in his turn passed a document with similar
content on to German Foreign Ministry.

Turkish Hurriet newspaper informed on March 4 about seminar “What will
be the course of negotiations with Turkey?” organized by the Union of
Turkish Democrats of Europe in Cologne during which hot arguments took
place. Hurriet reports that Wolfgang Bosbach, deputy chairman of the
CDU, told that “Turkey cannot deny the genocide”, thus making furious
Zuneyt Zapsu, PM Erdogan’s adviser on foreign policy.

He exclaimed: “You carp at the genocide all the time. We will
certainly put these issues on the agenda and will discuss it to find a
solution in a short while. But the genocide issue will be resolved not
with Diaspora but with Armenia. But there are also such issues as the
Alavi issue waiting to be resolved”.

Bosbach angrily responded to Zapsu’s speech: “What is the other issue
but the Armenian Genocide? What do you mean saying Armenian cause? I
want to know what issues concerning Armenians will be put for
discussion. Do you believethat we would be in the EU if we had
rejected the Holocaust? If we put up with our history, doesn’t it mean
that Turkey should do the same? If you want to be part of the European
family you have to give up your ways”.

By the end of the torrid discussions Zapsu told journalists: “We
should not delay with settling the Armenian cause nor should we
exaggerate it. Germany supports us in our EU bid. We already face
numerous difficulties and there is no point to turn an ally into
enemy. If our forefathers did so, there would beno Christian in East
Europe”.

By Hakob Chakrian