Turkey to debate strategy against Armenian genocide campaign

10/04/2005   AFP

ANKARA, April 9 (AFP) – 15h47 – Turkey’s parliament next week will
debate counter-action against a damaging Armenian campaign for the
recognition of the killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as
genocide, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul was quoted as saying Saturday.

Gul told journalists accompanying him on a trip to Algeria he would
take the floor at a special parliamentary session, scheduled for
Wednesday, to detail Ankaraâ’s strategy, Anatolia news agency
reported.

“Like it or not, Turkey has gotten behind on this issue,” Gul said.
“Turkey should have been more active and addressed this problem with
more courage to better enlighten the international community.”

On April 24 the Armenians will mark the 90th anniversary of the
beginning of the controversial World War I massacres, which have
already been acknowledged as genocide by several countries, including
France which is home to a large Armenian diaspora.

Ankara worries that the Armenians are using the anniversary to step up
their campaign, particularly in the United States, whose traditionally
close ties with Turkey are today markedly strained amid differences
over Iraq.

Some European Union politicans also maintain that Turkey should
address the genocide claims and mend fences with neighboring Armenia
as it prepares to launch membership talks on October 3.

The mass killings and deportations 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 perished in
orchestrated killings between 1915 and 1917 as the Ottoman Empire,
the predecessor of modern Turkey, was falling apart.

Ankara categorically rejects claims of genocide and argues that
300,000 Armenians and thousands of Turks were killed in what was
civil strife during World War I when the Armenians rose against their
Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month called for an unbiased
study of the genocide allegations and declared Turkeyâ’s state
archives open to all historians.

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