Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
Aug 22 2007

TURKISH MINISTRY ACCUSES US JEWISH ORGANIZATION OF HISTORICAL
IGNORANCE

Ankara, 22 August: "The statement released by the USA-based Anti
Defamation League (ADL) yesterday is lack of historical and legal
ground. Definition of 1915 events as ‘genocide’ is both historically
and legally baseless," Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said
on Wednesday [22 August].

In response to a question, the spokesman for the MFA said, "The ADL
claimed in its statement that if the word genocide had existed then,
1915 events would have been called genocide. The statement also said
that a congressional resolution on such matters is a
counterproductive diversion and will not foster reconciliation
between Turks and Armenians, and may put at risk the Turkish Jewish
community and the important multilateral relationship between Turkey,
Israel and the United States."

"Definition of 1915 events as ‘genocide’ is lack of historical and
legal ground. There is not any compromise among historians on the
matter. Also, it was Turkey which proposed [to] Armenia to establish
a joint commission to investigate the issue. We could not receive a
positive response to our proposal yet," the ministry said.

"The ADL’s attempt to rewrite the history is quite contradictory. On
the other hand, Jewish community in Turkey is a part of our society.
We consider this statement, which is also unjust against the memory
of victims of the Holocaust, unfortunate. We expect the ADL to
correct their mistake," the ministry added.