ALI ERTEM: ONE DAY TURKEY SHOULD RECONCILE ITSELF TO THE FACT AND RECOGNIZE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 25 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 25, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. It is already several
years that journalist Ali Ertem, a citizen of Turkey living in Germany,
Chairman of the “Union against Genocide” organization, comes to Armenia
on April 24 to pay the tribute of his respect to the memory of 1.5
mln victims of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Only some years ago the
Turkish intellectual collected 11 thousand signatures from Turks of
Germany and submitted them both to the German parliament and to the
parliaments of different European countries, and doing so, rendered
assistance to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide on his and his
co-thinkers’ part. According to Ali Ertem, the top priority task of
the organization headed by him is the recognition and condemnation
of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey and Turkish society. According to
him, first they submitted these signatures to the Turkish parliament,
but the leaders of his country checked and returned them giving no
answer up to this day.

“Hostility cannot last forever. One day Turkey should reconcile itself
to the fact and should recognize the Armenian Genocide. I am convinced
that the peoples living in Turkey will also condemn and admit this
fact,” the Turkish journalist emphasized. In Ali Ertem’s opinion,
in this respect the international organizations have much to do:
they should be mediators in the dialogue between the Turkish and
Armenian peoples in the issue of liquidation of the consequences of
the Genocide.