Turkey Condemns Argentinean Senate

Journal of Turkish Weekly
May 8 2005

ANKARA – Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (TMFA) condemned the
Argentinean Senate which accused Turkey for committing genocide
against the Armenians between 1915 and 1923.

A statement by the TMFA said Argentinean authorities were earlier
explained that such an initiative would be a mistake and many times
were conveyed the drawbacks which this initiative may lead to.

There is a strong Armenian diaspora in Argentina and the Argentinian
politicians frequently give support to the Armenian allegations
against Turkey in order to get Armenian votes in elections.

The Turkish statement said, “it is obvious that the attitude of
the Argentinean Senate is politically motivated and adopting such a
statement which lacks historical truth and full of mistakes, was an
irresponsible act.”

The statement said Turkey, a while ago, proposed the formation of a
Turkish-Armenian joint committee to investigate the incidents which
had occurred in the past, noting that the letter of Armenian Head of
State Robert Kocharian was being assessed comprehensively and under
a positive point of view.

The Ottoman Armenians rioted against the Ottoman Armies and joined
the Russians to establish a separate Armenian state in the eastern
provinces. The Istanbul Government decided to relocate more than
500,000 Armenians from the Eastern provinces to Syria province when the
Armenian militants with the Russian Army started to massacre the Muslim
population in the region. About 523,000 Muslims were killed by the
Armenian groups. Many Armenians were also killed during the communal
clashes. According to Turkish History Society the number of killed
Armenians is more than 100,000. Many died due to the epidemic and
famine. However the Armenian diaspora organizations blame the Ottoman
Government for the Armenian tragedy, and try to force current Turkish
Government to accept the 1915 clashes as ‘genocide’ Turkey have always
refused the Armenian allegations while the Armenian groups applied
terrorism and political attacks against Turkish state. More than
40 Turkish diplomats were killed by the Armenian terrorists during
the 1970s and 80s. Turkish historians argue that Armenian attacks
and massacres against the Muslim population should be considered
as genocide.

JTW 8 May 2005