OCCURRENCES OF BEGINNING OF XX CENTURY IN OTTOMAN TURKEY
CORRESPOND FULLY TO UN CONVENTION ON GENOCIDE: TURKISH SCIENTIST
YEREVAN, APRIL 20. ARMINFO. What happened with Armenians in the
beginning of the 20th century in Ottoman Turkey, correspond fully
to the UN Convention on Genocide, Professor of Istanbul University
Murat Belge stated in an interview to Armenian journalists.
He noted that a word “genocide” is a juridical term, therefore its use
often causes contradictory reactions. Speaking about contradictious
position of Ankara in the issue of recognizing Armenian Genocide,
Belge stated that one of its main reasons is that Turkey avoids
territorial claims which Armenia could make in case of recognition
of Genocide. If Armenia states clearly that it has no territorial
claims to Turkey, the possibility of recognizing Genocide by Ankara
will be greatly increased, Belge stressed.
He also stressed that entrance of Turkey into the EU will make much
more easier to solve problems between Yerevan and Ankara. “Armenians
strive for accent the attention of international community to
occurrences in Ottoman Turkey in 1915, but Turks want to discuss a
situation preceded these occurrences. And exactly this difference
in positions of the two countries prevents the establishment of
Armenian-Turkish dialogue”, Belge noted.
The other Turkish historian Kemal Chichek expressed a cardinally
opposite position. He stated that occurrences of early XX century
do not correspond to the UN Convention on Genocide. In his words,
Turkey does not know what term to use qualifying occurrences of
early XX century – “mass massacres” or “Genocide”. “Ankara offers to
create an Armenian-Turkish scientific commission to study historical
facts of early XX”, Chichek noted. At the same time, he stressed that
these occurrences cannot be qualified as Genocide as Genocide is the
crime fulfilled by the order of authorities of one or another country.
However, there is no proofs that they were fulfilled by the authorities
of Ottoman Turkey. Moreover, there are evidences that Turkish powers
tried to prevent Armenians’ massacres and even