DUTCH POLITICAL PARTIES SCRAP TURKISH CANDIDATES WHO DO NOT ACCEPT ARMENIAN CLAIMS
By Neriman Kokdal (JTW)
Journal of Turkish Daily
Sept 29 2006
The two largest Dutch political parties have scrapped ethnic
Turkish-Dutch parliamentary candidates who refuse to acknowledge the
historical Armenian claims. Turks say the decision is discrimination
against the Turkish and Muslim peoples in the Netherlands.
The candidates include Ayhan Tonca of the governing Christian Democrat
Party (CDP). Tonca is one of the country’s most prominent Muslim
Dutch politicians and is chairman of an umbrella organization of
Muslim groups known as CMO. The Christian Democrats also retracted
the candidacy of Osman Elmaci, and the opposition Labor Party ended
the candidacy of Erdinc Sacan. Armenian lobby put great pressure on
the party.
Ethnically Turkish Dutch citizen Erdinc Sacan was previously on the
list for the upcoming November 22 elections in the Netherlands,
this after being elected to a leadership position in 2003 in the
Netherland’s Brabant State. The leader of the Dutch Social Democrat
Workers’ Party (SDWP) commented on the situation, saying "It was a
difficult decision. But there cannot be any ambiguity within our party
with regards to our stance on this question. The fact that Sacan was
not giving his support clearly to the party on this position left us
with no other choice."
The Turkish societies consider not to vote for these two parties in
the elections. More than 450.000 Turkish people live in Netherlands.
Most of the Dutch Turks think that the recent events are discrimination
against the Turkish people in the country.
The Armenian lobby argues that the 1915 Relocation Campaign under the
Ottoman Rule was a genocide and the modern Turkey is also responsible
for it. However Turkey has never accepted the claims. According to the
Turkish historians the armed Armenian gangs massacred more than 520.000
Turkish and Kurdish during these years. The Relocation decision was
taken by the Ottoman Government when some of the Armenian groups gave
armed support to the occupying Russian forces against the Ottoman State
during the First World War. About 800.000 Armenian were relocated from
the Western and Eastern Anatolia to the Syria province of the State.
The ISRO experts told the JTW that the latest removal decision will
definitely damage the ethnic relations in the Netherlands. "It is
very clear that the Dutch parties discriminate the Muslim and Turkish
people. You do not have accept the Armenian allegations. In Turkey,
some accept, some not. If you are a free country no one can impose on
you. Political parties are the symbols of freedom of speech. However
we see that the Dutch democracy is just for the white and Christian
Dutch people, not the colored and other religions" Dr. Nilgun Gulcan
from ISRO said.
Similarly Jan Soykok, ISRO expert, told the JTW that Armenian claims
are just claims, not more:
"If the politicians cannot use the right of freedom of speech, who
can say what he/she thinks about. I personally believe in that the
Armenians simply lie. This is my personal opinion and I do not need
any approval from any party or government to think so or not. There
is no court verdict about Armenian claims. They accuse Turkey and
Turkish people, and the Turkish people do not accept all these
claims. In fact Turkey argues that the real massacre was committed
by the Armenians. The Dutch parties are confused and they think the
Armenian genocide claims are like the Holocaust. As a matter of fact
that Israel and the Jews do not accept the Armenian allegations. The
Israeli Government clearly declared that the Armenian events are not
genocide and 1915 is not a tragedy like the Holocaust."