PanARMENIAN.Net

Turkish analyst: Turkey must change its strategy in genocide issue
02.03.2007 16:47 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `As we all know, Turkey’s usual response to Armenian
claims of genocide has been `let’s leave this subject to the
historians’. This means, we expect that historians will sit down,
examine all the documents from both sides, as well as from third
countries, and make a decision,’ Mehmet Yilmaz writes in Hurriyet. He
says the real problem is `what label the historians will decide to put
on the tableau which emerges as they do their work.’ He thinks that
historians will be subjective in their viewpoint, and it will hamper
the truth, since everyone will speak about the Armenian Genocide based
on his own beliefs. `So, once again, the problem will not be
solved. Some historians will say "it was genocide," while others
assert "it wasn’t."` the analyst writes.

Reminding the recent decision from the International Court of Justice
on the "ethnic cleansing" and the allegations of genocide in
Srebrenitsa, Yilmaz said Bosnia signals to Turkey where they should be
looking for solutions to this problem. `Turkey should start preparing
for this case to be brought to The Hague’s International Court of
Justice, and should begin to focus its efforts in this direction. We
have accustomed ourselves to leaving debate on this subject open to
the flow of developments outside of us, rather than taking action into
our own hands. But we have got to change our strategy, and bring the
fast-paced developments on this subject under our control. The
government must not be dissuaded by the atmosphere of election season,
and must not allow this subject to be postponed,’ the Hurriyet analyst
stressed.