PM slams German parliament over Armenian resolution

NTV MSNBC, Turkey
June 17 2005

The Turkish Prime Minister criticised German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder for not taking a stand or preventing his deputies from
backing the Armenian bill.

Güncelleme: 17:43 TSI 17 Haziran 2005 Cuma- Turkey~Rs Prime Minister
has described the passing of a motion by the German parliament
recognising alleged massacres of Armenian citizens of the Ottoman
Empire as wrong and ugly.

Speaking at a press conference at Istanbul~Rs Ataturk Airport on his
return from a visit to Lebanon late Thursday, Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan said that history would make the German parliament
ashamed of their decision.

On Tuesday, the German parliament endorsed a resolution supporting
claims that massacres of Armenians had taken place within the ottoman
Empire 90 years ago and calling on Turkey to acknowledge these
events. Turkey has always denied that any massacres or acts of
genocide was carried out against the Empire~Rs Armenian community.

The Prime Minister noted that the motion of the German parliament had
avoided the usage of the term genocide and instead applied the term
massacre.

This bill was passed without debate and was politically very wrong
and had been tabled as a sacrifice for small lobbies, Erdogan said.

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