Turkish Daily News
Friday, March 11 2005
Armenia rejects Turkish offer for joint study on ‘genocide’
Friday, March 11, 2005
ANKARA – Turkish Daily News
The Armenian government turned down a proposal offered by Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a joint study to be conducted
by Turkish and Armenian historians on allegations that the Armenians
were subject to a genocide at the hands of the late Ottoman Empire in
the beginning of the last century.
Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian dismissed the offer,
which Erdogan announced after a solidarity meeting with main
opposition party leader Deniz Baykal in Ankara, as “groundless,” the
Anatolia news agency said.
“We have opened our archives to those people who claim there was a
genocide. If they are sincere, they should also open their archives,”
Erdogan said on Monday. “Teams of historians from both sides should
conduct studies on these archives. We are ready to take steps on this
issue.”
Turkey denies Armenian allegations that 1.5 million Armenians were
killed as part of a systematic attempt to exterminate them, or
genocide, from 1915-1918. It says the Armenians were the victims of a
partisan fight, during which Turks were also killed and accuses the
Armenians of attacking the Turkish population in eastern Anatolia as
they sided with invading Russian forces.
Oskanian, conversely, maintained that the issue was settled, saying
historians had already said what they had to say. “They have nothing
else to do,” he was quoted as saying.
The Turkish side argues that Armenian allegations are not
scientifically supported. Parliament is preparing to send a letter to
the British House of Lords and House of Commons asking British
lawmakers to declare a book titled “The Treatment of Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire, 1915-1916,” one of the basic sources referred to by
Armenians in their allegations, as wartime propaganda material.
Historian Arnold Toynbee and British diplomat James Bryce wrote the
book during the World War I era. The Turkish side says the book was
designed to convince neutral countries, particularly the United
States, to get involved in the war by portraying Ottoman forces as
“inhumane creatures.”
Armenian campaign picks up momentum in US:
A powerful Armenian lobby in the United States has launched an
initiative to win the administration’s backing for its genocide
allegations.
Efforts made by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA),
a radical diaspora group, urge Armenians in the United States to send
letters to President George W. Bush, asking him to “properly
recognize” the allegations of genocide. ANCA underlined in a
statement that there were rifts in Turkish-U.S ties and called on
Armenians to make use of this situation.