AZG Armenian Daily #064, 12/04/2005

Armenian Genocide

ISSUE OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN TURKISH PARLIAMENT

Abdullah Gul Denies

Abdullah Gul, Turkish deputy prime minister, stated that the program of
Ankara’s “actions against the statements about the so-called Armenian
genocide” will be discussed at the Turkish parliament on April 13. Gul said
this at the airport during his trip to Algeria.

The Turkish press is littered with the articles denying the Armenian
Genocide. Though negatively, but the neighboring country arouses greater
noise around the massacres of 1,5 million of Armenians committed in the
early 20th century in the Ottoman Turkey.

“I am going to give some explanations concerning the statements of the
Armenians, adding that Turkey can be more active and brave in this issue,”
Sabah daily quoted Gul as saying.

This will be the first discussion of the Armenian Genocide at the Turkish
parliament, certainly in the negative context. On April 5, the Committee for
Harmonic Relations with EU at Turkish Parliament also discussed the issue of
“the Armenian allegations” during its sitting.

Ropper Hattechian, editor-in-chief of Istanbul-based Marmara daily, said in
the interview to daily Azg the idea to discuss the events of the early 20th
century in the Ottoman Turkey belongs to a group of parliament members of
oppositional democratic-republican and Justice and Prosperity centrist
parties.

Hattechian said that the Turkish press is full of articles about the
Armenian Genocide, today. He said that it’s natural that they are going to
deny the Genocide in their speeches at parliament, including Abdullah Gul.

NTV informed that Ahmed Necdet Sezer, Turkish President, touched upon the
Armenian Genocide on April 9. Holding a speech at the Istanbul Military
Academy, Sezer said that the statements saying that the Ottoman Empire
committed a genocide against its Armenian citizens are offensive to the
Turkish people.

Sezer said that one should carry out an investigation when touching upon the
historical issues, using documents that reflect objective and unprejudiced
attitude.

This January, when Mehmed Ali Birand, Turkish well-known journalist, warned
about the danger of “the Armenian Tsunami,” the Turkish mass media began
dwelling on the issue more and more frequently.

Zaman newspaper said in April 9 issue, in “What Does Genocide Mean?” article
that in 1915-16, when the Ottoman Empire decided to evict its Armenian
citizens, thousands of Armenians died of hunger, cold and attacks. Zaman
characterized the Armenian Genocide with the term “the great tragedy.”

Turkish Daily News online news portal wrote in its April 7 issue that Ankara
gave its consent for opening a new Yerevan-Antalia air route. The newspaper
cited an unknown official who said that “this gesture of Turkey will help
release the tension between the two countries,” caused by the conclusions
about “the so-called Armenian genocide.”

The newspaper reminded that the Turkish officials allowed “Armavia” company
to make flights between Istanbul and Yerevan. CNN-Turk informed that in 2004
the number of the Armenians that spend their holidays in Turkey amounted to
50 thousand.

Turkish Daily News reminded that on April 24 the Armenians are going to
commemorate the anniversary of “the so-called Armenian genocide.” “Over 90
congressmen applied to president Bush with a letter, calling for recognizing
the statements about the Genocide. But the Turkish authorities, including
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, are sure that the Bush administration
is likely to avert this step, as, otherwise, it may seriously damage the
Turkish-American relations.”

By Tatoul Hakobian