SPEAKER OF NA INTERRUPTED IRRELEVANT "LECTURE" BY TURKISH DEPUTY

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
June 14 2006

Chairman of the Armenian National Assembly Tigran Torosyan has met
joint delegations of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly sub-committees
of Defense and Security Committee and Committee on Civil Dimension of
Security, a REGNUM correspondent is told in the Armenian parliamentary
press office.

It was noted that UK representative Frank Cook was working out a
regional report. Speaking on the report, Tigran Torosyan pointed
out a number of positions that should be improved. In particular,
the report says "countries favorable to Armenia" believe that it was
the Armenian Genocide in 1915, however, the wording should be changed
to "EU member-countries and the European Parliament that recognized
the Genocide." In response to this, Chairman of the Sub-Committee on
Future Security and Defense Capabilities of the Defense and Security
Commission of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Vahit Erdem (Turkey)
tried to reject the fact of the genocide. According to him, in 1915,
there was no Armenian Genocide, as there was no official order, and
the matter concerned 400-500 thousand people, who in a result of a
provocation by Russians were first to attack Turks. Tigran Torosyan
interrupted the "lecture in history" by the Turkish MP and calling
him upon being more correct found his behavior incompatible with his
post in the international institution. Torosyan reminded that Vahit
Erdem had no right assessing neither the Genocide, nor the European
Parliament or countries that recognized the Genocide.