CHP ASKS FOR ANTI-SO CALLED GENOCIDE COMMITTEE
The New Anatolian, Turkey
April 2 2007
The main opposition party over the weekend called for establishment
of a parliamentary investigation committee to broaden the scope of
strategies in order to forestall so-called Armenian genocide claims
and especially the Armenian lobby in the U.S.
The Republican People’s Party’s call came soon after the U.S. House
of Representatives slightly changed remarks over "genocide" in a
resolution in favor of Turkey.
The resolution which has no binding for Turkey but is important in
terms of international politics, excluded the term "Armenian genocide,"
but condemned the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink
in January.
The paper, passed on Friday, also replaced the part "Dink was
prosecuted under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) for
mentioning about Armenian genocide," with a new version worded more
cautiously, which reads, "Dink was prosecuted under Article 301
of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) for calling the ‘1915 massacre of
Armenians genocide’."
A group of CHP deputies led by Istanbul Deputy Sukru Elekdag submitted
a motion to the Parliament Speaker’s Office on Saturday accusing
Turkish authorities of remaining relatively passive regarding the
so-called claims.
The petition, which cited that Armenia has made a long way to introduce
Turkey a genocidal country, thus a great many Western states has
come to use the opportunity laid by mostly Armenian diaspora to steer
Turkish foreign policy and reap concessions or avoid Turkey to become
a full member of the European Union, said that the so-called claims
have come to affect the current international affairs of Turkey as
a global threat.
It also said that the claim is engineered as a tool for the racist and
imperial policies of Armenia and Armenian diaspora which concentrated
on efforts to put forward territorial claims or compensations. "The
Armenian side has been carrying out a paramount international public
drive through academic publishing, political symposiums, lobbying,
and even movies portraying a genocidal Turkey," said the paper.
The petition also admitted that Turkey cannot be called better off
compared to Armenia since although it has gave pace to its efforts
recently, it is too late and weak to fight Armenian ardor regarding
the issue.