Turkey cancels Polish MPs’ visit over Armenian vote

Anatolia news agency
27 Apr 05

ANKARA

Turkish parliament decided on Wednesday [27 April] to protest the
Polish parliament’s resolution on so-called Armenian genocide
allegations.

Turkish parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc sent a letter to his Polish
counterpart Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz condemning this resolution adopted
on 19 April, while Polish parliamentarians’ visit to Turkish
parliament was cancelled.

Members of the Polish-Turkish Interparliamentary Friendship Group were
scheduled to visit Turkey between 25th and 30th May.

On the other hand, Turkish parliament decided not to send a
representative to the “parliamentary marathon and semi-marathon
championships” held in Poland. Two parliamentarians were expected to
represent Turkey in this event.

In the letter he sent to Cimoszewicz, Arinc expressed his sorrow and
disappointment with approval of the resolution by the Polish
parliament.

Arinc wrote in his letter: “Our nation has felt deep sorrow over a
friendly parliament’s biased interpretation of the tragic incidents
that occurred between the Turks and Armenians under the circumstances
of the World War I. We can’t accept use of those days as a tool for
political intentions, which would cause prejudices against Turkey and
Turkish people.”

“National parliaments are not the appropriate places of making
judgments about disputable days of history. I think that parliaments
should exert efforts to create atmospheres which will enable
improvement of friendship and cooperation among nations and countries
(instead of acting this way),” said Arinc.

Noting that Turkey had always argued that disputable historical
periods should be assessed and examined by historians, Arinc said that
therefore, Turkey had opened its archives to all researchers.

Arinc stated that Turkey had also proposed Armenia to form a joint
committee comprised of Turkish and Armenian historians which would
examine the 1915 incidents in all the related archives.

Drawing attention that Turkish parliament had issued a statement and
supported this proposal, Arinc said: “Despite these bona fide
initiatives of our country, the resolution adopted by the Polish
parliament has been a very unfortunate development regarding our
bilateral relations. It is not possible to link this resolution to the
long friendly relations between our nations.”