PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung), Austria
Jan 28 2008

Turkey criticizes US Democratic presidential hopefuls for Armenian
genocide comments

2008-01-28 17:03:44 –

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Turkey has criticized U.S. Democratic
presidential hopefuls for backing Armenian views that a century-old
mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks constituted a
genocide.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement over the weekend
that remarks by Democratic presidential candidates «for the sake of
an internal party struggle, offends
the Turkish nation.» The statement did not name specific candidates.
Barack Obama issued a statement urging Turkey to acknowledge the 1915
killings of Armenians as genocide, saying: «As a U.S. senator, I have
stood with the Armenian American community in calling for Turkey’s
acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide.» The statement, dated Jan.
19, was posted on his campaign Web site.
Armenia says some 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman
Empire in a genocidal campaign during World War I. Turkey says the
casualty figures are inflated, and that the killings occurred at a
time of civil unrest and were not part of a systematic campaign to
eliminate the Armenian minority of the Turkish-ruled empire.
The Armenian National Committee of America, an advocacy group, said
another Democratic candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton, had vowed
support for U.S. recognition of the killings as a «genocide.
The group posted a statement on its Web site that it said had come
from Clinton, but her campaign office could not immediately confirm
that.
In the unconfirmed statement, Clinton is quoted as saying she
believed «the horrible events perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire
against Armenians constitute a clear case of genocide.

In October, Turkey protested to Washington over a House committee
vote that labeled the deaths a genocide. Despite appeals by U.S.
President George W. Bush and top Turkish leadership, the House
Foreign Affairs Committee passed the genocide bill.
A similar vote by the French Assembly to declare the killings a
genocide sparked fury among the Turkish public, and prompted the
Turkish government to cancel all military contracts with France, one
of its key arms supplier.