Agence France Presse — English
January 10, 2008 Thursday 6:40 PM GMT

Denmark does not recognise Armenian genocide: minister

COPENHAGEN, Jan 10 2008

Denmark does not officially recognise that Ottoman massacres of
Armenians during World War I constitute genocide, Danish Foreign
Minister Per Stig Moeller said Thursday.

"In the government’s opinion, this is a historical question that
should be left up to the historians," Moeller wrote in a written
parliamentary answer, indicating that Denmark would not follow the
lead of some 20 other countries, including France, that have labelled
the killings genocide.

Moeller’s note came in response to a question from parliamentary
member Morten Messerchmidt, of the far-right Danish People’s Party,
on whether "Denmark had officially recognised this genocide."

"It is unfortunate that the Danish government refuses to join other
countries in recognising this genocide," Messerschmidt told AFP. "It
is as if they fear Turkey’s reactions."

Copenhagen’s decision "to not recognise this genocide shows that the
government indirectly supports Turkey’s cowardly refusal to take
responsibility for its history the way the Germans did after World
War II," he said.

The mass killing of Armenians is considered genocide by Armenians but
not by Turkey, which rejects the term.

According to the Armenians, 1.5 million of their kinsmen were killed
from 1915 to 1917 under an Ottoman Empire campaign of deportation and
murder.

Rejecting the genocide label, Turkey argues that 250,000 to 500,000
Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when
Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia during
World War I.

A number of countries and official bodies, notably the European
Parliament, France, Canada and now a US House of Representatives
committee, have labelled the killings a genocide.