BUSH’S GENOCIDE SPEECH UNACCEPTABLE FOR TURKEY
By Hakob Chakrian

AZG Armenian Daily
28/04/2006

Armenians worldwide focused their attention on president George
W. Bush’s annual speech on April 24.

Turkey also caught it in the spotlight insofar as Turkish papers and
Turkish Foreign Ministry’s statement suggest.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Namek Tan presented the
statement. Responding to US president’s April 24 speech, he said that
there are a few acceptable ideas in it, Milliet newspaper reports. As
to the hint at creating of a joint group of scholars in Bush’s speech,
Tan considered it a positive proposal.

Though the spokesperson has not explained what statements are
unacceptable for Turkey, they are obvious.

Pres. Bush says in his speech: “Today, we remember one of the horrible
tragedies of the 20th century: the mass killing and forced exile of
as many as 1.5 million of Armenians in the final days of the Ottoman
Empire in 1915. This was a tragedy for all humanity and one that we
and the world must never forget.”

Though the statement lacks the word “genocide”, this is a clear-cut
definition of genocides as the UN Convention on Genocide has it.

Moreover, George Bush touches upon the analysis of the Center for
Transitional Justice and though he considers it incomplete, he points
out that it is a serious contribution to deepening the perception of
1915 event.

As it is known, a 17-page report was made in 2003 based on CTJ analysis
in which it draws the following conclusion on the events of 1915 in
the Ottoman Empire: “In whole, these events have all the elements
of genocide as the UN Convention on Genocides defines it. Lawyers,
political scientists, journalists and others will be correct if they
use this definition for these events.”

In other words, by referring to the CTJ’s analysis, Bush indirectly
confirms that the events of 1915 match UN Conventions definition
of genocides.

All these could not certainly be acceptable for the Turkish Foreign
Ministry. What spokesperson Tan avoids say openly write the newspapers
emphasizing that at the end of his speech president Bush passed his
wife’s condolence to the Armenian nation. Curiously enough, Milliet
titled its article on Bush’s speech “No Word ‘Genocide’ but…” thus
showing its displeasure with it.