ARMENIA WELCOMES US GENOCIDE VOTE
Aljazeera.net, Qatar
Oct 11 2007
Kocharian said Ankara should not bully countries into not recognising
the killings as genocide [AFP]
Robert Kocharian, Armenia’s president, has welcomed a vote by a US
House of Representatives’ committee supporting the description of
mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks after 1915 as genocide.
He said: "We hope this process will lead to a full recognition by
the United States of America of the fact of the Armenian genociders."
Kocharian made the remarks after talks with Javier Solana, the EU
foreign policy chief, in Brussels on Thursday.
He urged Turkey to join Armenia in talks to restore bilateral
relations, but said Ankara had no right to bully other nations into
refraining from recognising the killings as genocide.
‘Position of denial’
Kocharian said: "All of our foreign contacts around the world
demonstrate that there is no disagreement or that there is no doubt
anywhere in the world about the events that took place in Turkey in
1915, and there is a consensus regarding those events.
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"Turkey has warned of damage to bilateral ties and military
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"The fact that Turkey has adopted a position of denial of the genocide
doesn’t mean it can bind other states to deny historic truths as well."
He said the passing of a resolution by the US Congress would have
no impact on diplomatic ties between his country and its neighbour,
Turkey, which are currently nonexistent, but said he was open to
talks with Turkey.
Further, Kocharian said: "We are ready for diplomatic relations without
any preconditions and we are ready to start a very wide dialogue
with our Turkish partners on all possible issues of Armenian-Turkish
relations."
Solana urged Armenia and Turkey to "look to the future and work to
build bilateral ties".
Turkish reprisals
The US House of Representatives’ foreign affairs committee vote came
despite objections from George Bush, the US president, and Turkey,
a Nato ally that has provided support to Washington in Iraq.
Turkey condemned the committee’s action and cautioned against any
move to take it to a full House vote.
It said such a development would jeopardise a strategic partnership
with an ally and friend and would be an "irresponsible attitude".
There have been demonstrations in Turkey against the vote and Barnaby
Phillips, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Istanbul, said: "Nationalist
anger is mounting."
Gates’ warning
Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, gave warning on reprisals
from Turkey following the vote.
He said Turkey was crucial to US supply lines into Iraq, with 70 per
cent of US air cargo, 30 per cent of fuel shipments to US forces,
and 95 per cent of new mine-resistant armoured protected vehicles
going through Turkey.
He said: "The Turks have been quite clear about some of the measures
they would have to take if this resolution passes.
"It’s worth noting that the French parliament passed a similar
resolution, and there were a number of steps taken by the Turkish
government to punish, if you will, the French."
The massacres of Armenians marks one of the darkest periods in Turkey’s
recent history.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million people were killed during the period
1915 to 1917.
Turkey rejects the label genocide and insists the death toll is
inflated and that the killings occurred at a time of civil unrest.
‘Insulting Turkishness’
In a separate development, a Turkish court has convicted the son and
a colleague of Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian journalist who was
murdered in January.
Aram Dink and Serkis Seropyan were found guilty of insulting the
Turkish identity for an article published last year and each given
one-year suspended sentences
The European Union is urging Turkey to scrap article 301 of the penal
code, which forbids "insulting Turkishness", saying it restricts
freedom of speech.
Erdal Dogan, the journalists’ lawyer, said the men would appeal to
a higher court.
The case against Hrant Dink, for calling the killings of Armenians
during World War I a genocide, was dropped after his death, but the
court continued with the prosecution of the other men.
Dink had already been convicted of the charges and was appealing his
case when he was shot dead in Istanbul.
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