Absurd discussion in Turkish parliament

Yerkir/arm
April 15, 2005

The Armenian Genocide issue was once again on the Turkish Parliament’s
agenda last Wednesday.

Unlike a similar discussion held a few days earlier with the
participation of three Istanbul Armenians, this left an impression
that its participants were playing their parts of a script.

Foreign Minister Gul, who was starring in this absurd theater,
announced that Turkey has nothing in its history to be ashamed of.
Before that, the Turkish foreign minister was talking about the
800-year-long Armenian-Turkish friendship and that whatever he would
say has nothing to do with the Armenians living in Turkey.

Speaking of the Armenian Genocide, he noted that the 1915 Law on
Deportation was due to the war and with a concern to cope with the
“great internal and external threats.” According to the minister’s
distorted view, when facing such threats, all countries resort to
similar measures.

Appallingly Gul said that 1,400 Armenians were arrested after they
raised arms against their compatriots (i.e. Turks). According to the
Turkish diplomat, everything is vice versa: it was the Armenians who
attacked the Turks killing them. The minister — who had troubles
reading the text before him — indicated that Armenians, used by the
French command, organized massacres of Turks in Cilicia.

Citing the UN Genocide Convention, Gul said that what Armenians were
subjugated to in the Ottoman Empire has nothing to do with genocide,
so no genocide had taken place. He added that the recognition of
the Armenian Genocide has negative impact on the Armenia-Turkey
relations. Turkey was among the first countries to recognize Armenia’s
independence in 1991 while Armenians are pressing for the Genocide
recognitions, Gul said.

Armenia’s inclusion in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization
was a an expression of a “good will,” since Armenia has no access to
the Black Sea, according to Gul, who is forgetting that Turkey has
invited Armenia to join BSEC in its own interest, and that Azerbaijan,
another BSEC member, has no access to the Black Sea either. Gul
did not forget, however, to speak of the Artsakh issue, as well as
“hundreds of thousands of refugees,” noting that the relations with
Armenia will improve only after Armenia complies with the demands
Turkey had voiced earlier.

Only one conclusion can drawn from the Turkish prime minister’s speech:
the policy of denial remains unchanged. Turks, however, are trying
to replace the older mechanisms of denial with new ones and buy time
with “parliamentary hearings. For denial, means justify the ends.