PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung), Austria
June 8 2007
Turkey condemns Chilean lawmakers’ recognition of Armenian genocide
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) – Turkey’s Foreign Ministry on Friday condemned
a bill by Chilean lawmakers that recognized mass killings of
Armenians during World War I as genocide, noting the bill was
politically motivated.
Chile’s Senate unanimously passed a bill on June 5 to label what
Ottoman Turkish forces did nine decades ago as genocide, the
ministry said in a statement.
«We strongly condemn and reject the said resolution that distorts the
history for political purposes,» the statement said.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman
Turks between 1915 and 1917, in what has increasingly been called a
genocide by parliaments of third countries.
Turkey acknowledges large numbers of Armenians were killed, but says
it was a time of civil unrest and that the killings were not part of
a planned genocide.