PanARMENIAN.Net

Turkish Historian Describes Accusations of Assyrian
and Armenian Genocides as "Bogus"
27.12.2006 17:43 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey is now being haunted by claims of an Assyrian
genocide in 1915 during the country’s relocations. Bulent Ozdemir,
head of the Turkish Historical Society’s (TTK) Assyrian Studies
Section, responded yesterday to a draft report by Dutch Christian
Democrat parliamentarian Camiel Eurlings, in which he asserted that
Turkey should acknowledge the Pontic Greek, Assyrian and Armenian
genocides. Ozdemir said that claims regarding an Assyrian genocide
during World War I `are groundless and branded them "bogus" along with
the Armenian Genocide.’

Ozdemir said that they had prepared a book on the issue and during its
preparation process they mostly used foreign archive documents rather
than the Ottoman archives to make it more reliable and exact. "After
four months of research at the British National Archives from November
2004, we made a detailed study at the U.S. National Archives in May
last year," he said. "The results of our meticulous research show that
neither the Ottoman Empire nor today’s Turkish Republic can be accused
of genocide during World War I. Foreign archive documents strengthen
the arguments of Turkey on this issue. Compared to the Armenian
Genocide claims the statements about Assyrians can not trouble
Turkey," he said, reports The New Anatolian.