Turkey Has Not Committed Genocide Throughout Its History, Erdogan
Turkish Press
Published: 5/19/2005
ANKARA (AA) – “Turkey has not committed genocide through its history,
so it is impossible for us to accept such accusations”, Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.
Addressing the gathering of his governmental Justice & Development
Party (AK Party), Erdogan said that the so-called Armenian genocide
allegations were brought to the Council of Europe Heads of State and
Government Summit (held in Polish capital of Warsaw at the beginning
of this week).
Erdogan stated that he was out of the meeting room when Armenian
President Robert Kocharian was speaking, and drew attention that
Turkey recognized Armenia but there were not any diplomatic links
between the two countries.
Recalling that flights between (Turkish commercial hub of) Istanbul
and (Armenian capital of) Yerevan had been launched after his party
came to power, Erdogan said that Turkey had started to restore an
Armenian Church in (eastern city of) Van. But, he stressed, border
crossings were still closed.
Erdogan said that any positive step to be taken between Azerbaijan
and Armenia could have a positive impact on decisions to be made by
Turkey (regarding its relations with Armenia).
“During my speech, I said that we have opened our state archives. We
don’t have any concerns about our history, and believe that the
reality should be revealed. Armenia should also open its archives. And,
historians, jurists, political scientists and archivists should work
on them. Then, we make the political decision, but unfortunately I
cannot get any positive response from Kocharian so far,” noted Erdogan.
-WE WILL EXAMINE 15 COUNTRIES-
Erdogan went on saying, “parliaments of some countries recognize these
so-called Armenian genocide allegations after lobbying activities. This
contradicts international diplomacy. There is no word for assuming such
an attitude without basing on any document or information against a
country with which you are together in international institutions. In
Warsaw, I told reporters that parliaments of 15 countries made such a
decision, and we will examine these 15 countries. There are countries
among these 15 which carried out genocide in the past. We will bring
them to our parliament and pass a decision, basing on real documents
and information, not with lobbying. We will take this step because
Turkey had never committed genocide throughout its history.”
“But of course, some people might have died during relocation. It
is true. But, why were these people forced to migrate? Documents
indicate that the Ottomans were fighting in three fronts, and there
was an Armenian nation which started to rebel due to provocations
of some other circles. Naturally, the administration encouraged such
a relocation under these circumstances. But, it also met travelling
costs of the people forced to migrate. And it issued circulars for
protection of these people. There could be raids on the way. But,
the state did not carry out a genocide,” said Erdogan.
“There might have been some problems for this or that reason, but
it is wrong to define it as genocide. We won’t build our future on
hatred and resentment,” added Erdogan.
-COE SUMMIT-
On the other hand, Erdogan recalled that he had the opportunity
to explain the importance and theses of Turkey to 46 COE members,
25 of which were the EU members, and stressed, “we would like to
recall those who have forgotten at which part of Europe Turkey is,
that Turkey is one of active and strong members of the Council of
Europe for more than 50 years.
-BAN ON ONUR AIR-
Touching on some European countries’ ban on Onur Air flights, Erdogan
said that he discussed this matter with German Chancellor Schroeder
and Dutch PM Balkenende, and added that he and Schroeder agreed to
work together to help Onur Air overcome its technical problems.
-THE FINAL DECLARATION-
Erdogan said that the declaration of the COE summit stressed common
sensitivity of member states about democracy, rule of law and
human rights, and added, “we condemn every type of intolerance and
discrimination like Islam enmity and anti-Semitism. And, in the COE
we confirm our decisiveness to develop rules and efficient mechanisms
to prevent all these.”
