Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
April 27 2005

A new strategy for rejection of genocide allegations

Source: Hurriyet

The Turkish government has decided to entirely change its political
strategy on the Armenian matter. With the parliaments of up to 15
countries having now recognized what the Armenians claim was
“genocide,” the Turkish government has decided to change course and
thus its response.

Following a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers yesterday, it became
clear that the strategy that Turkey has followed up until now of
“leave the matter to the historians” is to be replaced immediately.
Said Justice Minister Cemil Cicek yesterday in Ankara: “Turkey has up
until now said ‘Let’s not look to the past, let’s look to the future.
By pulling the pain and suffering from the past and dropping them in
the present, we sow hatred in future generations.’ But we cannot
think like this anymore. Clearly, we need an completely new effort to
expose the lies of those who claim this genocide. The strategy of
Turkey up until now, which was to say ‘leave it to the historians,’
was at its basis, a sound one. But it is not enough to meet the need
of current politics, and we are forced to change this strategy.”