ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN THE UNITED STATES WILL BE A SERIOUS BLOW TO TURKISH-U.S. RELATIONS

YEREVAN, MARCH 27. ARMINFO. Acknowledgement of the Armenian genocide
in the United States will be a serious blow to Turkish-U.S. relations,
retired Ambassador Gunduz Aktan affirmed on Friday, Turkish press
reports.

G. Aktan, currently in the United States to give a series of conference
pertaining to Armenian genocide, took the floor at a meeting organized
by the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA).

If U.S. Congress acknowledges the Armenian genocide and if U.S.

President George Bush uses the word `genocide` (in his speeches)
this will definitely have a political impact on our relations. This
will constitute a serious threat to the bilateral relations, Aktan
indicated.

` Recalling that he was one of the members of the Turkish-Armenian
Reconciliation Committee, Aktan said it was impossible to convince
the Armenians that a genocide hadn`t been committed.

Comparing the Armenian genocide and Holocaust from some specific points
of views, Aktan said, “Jews were killed because they were Jews. Nobody
in Turkey was against Armenians. Jews did not collaborate with the
enemy and/or reclaim territory from Germany.”

Meanwhile retired Ambassador Omer Lutem indicated that convincing
particularly the Armenian Diaspora seemed impossible, stating that
the idea of genocide claim was deepened during the term in office of
Armenian President Robert Kocarian.