Turkish Speaker protests against Venezuelan “Armenian genocide” decision

Anatolia news agency
29 Jul 05

ANKARA

Turkish parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc sent a letter to Venezuelan
National Assembly (NA) President (?Francisco Jose Ameliach) on Friday
[29 July] and condemned a decision approved by the Venezuelan NA about
so-called Armenian genocide. In his letter Arinc expressed his regret
over approval of the decision unilaterally describing the tragic
events between Turkish and Armenian peoples in 1915 as genocide.

“The decision includes distorted and wrongful information about the
1915 events. Also, there is a meaningless statement in the decision on
Turkey’s EU membership process. Using historical events for political
purposes is totally unacceptable,” he said.

Arinc stressed, “National parliaments should carry out efforts to
develop friendly relations between peoples, instead of making
decisions about history. It is the duty of historians to deal with
such subjects.”

“The decision of the Venezuelan NA contradicts with our efforts to
normalize the bilateral relations. I hope that the Venezuelan NA
President (?Ameliach) will take action to correct such a mistake as
soon as possible,” he added.