"WE ARE NEITHER ON SIDE OF TURKS NOR ARMENIANS," ISRAEL DECLARES

Noyan Tapan
Aug 24, 2007

ANKARA, AUGUST 24, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Embassy of
Israel in Ankara made an official statement in connection with the
change of position of the "Anti-Defamation League" (ADL) Jewish
organization on the Armenian Genocide on August 22.

According to Daily "Milliyet", it is mentioned in the statement
that Israel has not changed its position on the events of 1915-16:
"We, the Jewish and Israeli people, see an emotional and moral
necessity in remembering the tragedies of the human kind, including
the events, that happened to the Armenian people in the last period
of the Ottoman Turkey, that is, in 1915-16. The state of Israel has
never denied those terrible events. Along with this, this subject has,
unfortunately, become a political burden for Armenians and Turks for
already many years, and both of the sides continue to insist on the
fairness and impartiality of their claims. That is why, the Israel
state is standing neither on this nor on that side. We hope that the
open wounds of the past will heal through dialogues," is mentioned
in the official statement of the Embassy of Israel in Ankara.

It should also be mentioned that Abraham Foxman, the Chairman of
the "Anti-Defamation League" (ADL) Jewish organization, officially
recognized the Armenian crime committed by the Ottoman Turks 92 years
ago as a genocide on August 21.

"We have never denied the fact of the 1915-1923 tragic events, we
have classed those sorrowful events committed under the rule of the
Ottoman Empire against Armenians as "massacres" and "atrocities"",
the Chairman of the Jewish organization declared and added that "the
consequences of those events are, in fact, equivalent to genocide."