‘Turkish Parliament should Make Armenian Issue National Policy’
By Anadolu News Agency (aa)

Zaman, Turkey
April 20 2005

The Turkish Institute of History (TTK) President Professor
Yusuf Halacoglu said in regard to the so-called Armenian genocide
allegations that: “Parliament has to remove this issue from certain
political discourses and make it a national policy. It has to think
about the issue, every detail of it, along with the psychological
dimension. Otherwise, nothing can be achieved.”

Professor Halacoglu gave a speech within the framework of a
series of conferences titled “The Armenian Issue in the Light of
Science” organized by Uludag University (UU) with the support of
some non-government organizations (NGOs). Halacoglu expressed that
the so-called Armenian genocide allegations have not appeared with
the European Union (EU); however, there is an understanding almost
forcing Turkey to accept the “Treaty of Sevres” that has started to
dominate the EU process. The Professor urged that the best response
against this sort of mentality is to provide detailed information
to the entire Turkish society regarding the issue. He noted
that insignificant studies were conducted regarding the so-called
Armenian genocide allegations in Turkey until recent years and said:
“Extremely serious studies have been undertaken in this field for
the last four or five years. One of the main reasons for this are
some of the problems that Turkey has been obliged to face. What are
the reasons that the so-called Armenian genocide allegations are
based upon? Did the so-called genocide that is suggested in these
allegations really occur or what really did happen? We have tried to
search for answers to these questions. What westerners and Armenians
diasporas claim was that “Turkey wiped clean the Ottoman archives;
therefore, these archives have no reliability. Documents that prove
the genocide were either hidden or destroyed.” The structure of the
Ottoman archives; however, prevents this situation from occurring,
because copies of a decision that was made at the center, that is
the capital, were sent to the provinces during the Ottoman era.”