ANKARA ALSO DISSATISFIED WITH US PRESIDENT
By H. Chaqrian

AZG Armenian Daily
27/04/2007

Although US President George Bush avoided saying "Genocide" in his
April 24 speech, he called the events of 1915 one of the greatest
tragedies of the 20th century and stated that 1,5 million Armenians
became victims of massacres.

George Bush said that the USA appreciate the efforts of the people
advocating reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey, noticing that
open and impartial research of the mass deportation and massacres of
Armenians in 1915 is an important condition for the reconciliation
process.

The speech of the US President rose irritation in Ankara. On April
25, as Turkish National Television reports, spokesman of Turkish
Foreign Ministry Levent Bilman made a statement in response to the
President’s speech.

Bilman’s message said that certain expressions of President Bush are
inappropriate and that the Turkish people are very cautious in the
question of "historically and juristically inconsistent statements". At
the same time Bilman emphasized the impartial approach to dubitable
historical issues.

The spokesman reminded that already on April 10, 2005 Turkey addressed
the Armenian scientist with a proposal to start joint researches of the
last years of the Ottoman Empire. He expressed solidarity with Bush’s
opinion that objective joint study of the matter of the genocide will
contribute the process of reconciliation and establishment of normal
relations between Armenia and Turkey. Bilman expressed a hope that
the USA will urge Armenia to accept the proposal.

The dissatisfaction of Turkey with George Bush’s April 24 speech is
natural. Bilman’s intention to halt the Armenian Genocide’s recognition
process by the means of international scientific discussion is
natural, too.

On the other hand, expecting the US authorities to urge Armenia to
start joint studies seems senseless – if Bilman considers that the
Armenians’ claims on the Genocide are "historically and juristically
inconsistent statements", "impartial study" of the events of 1915
will only serve to prove the Turkish policy of denial.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress