ALLEGED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE NOT A HISTORICAL REALITY: TAN

NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Sept 28 2006

A number of electoral candidates of Turkish origin have been struck
off their party’s lists to contest the November 22 ballot.

Guncelleme: 17:51 TSÝ 28 Eylul 2006 PerþembeANKARA – It is a worrying
development that some political parties in Holland have banned ethnic
Turkish candidates from standing in elections unless they accept that
the Ottoman Empire committed an act of genocide against its Armenian
community during World War One, a spokesman for the Turkish Foreign
Ministry said.

"We are deeply worried about the one-sided approach of our ally
Netherlands’ political parties on the so-called Armenian genocide as
this puts a limit on the freedom of expression" said Foreign Ministry
spokesman Namik Tan said Thursday. "It is not possible to accept
allegations on so-called Armenian genocide as historical reality."

Three candidates of Turkish origin were removed from party lists for
the forthcoming elections on November 22 as a result of lobbying by
Holland’s Armenian community.

Tan said that Turkey had done all that had been asked of it to assist
in looking into the incidents of 1915.

"Turkey has opened all archives, including military ones, so that
the incidents of 1915 can be studied from a scientific perspective,"
he said.

"Turkey offered to establish a committee of historians from both
Turkey and Armenia to study the incidents of 1915."

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