Agence France Presse — English
April 25, 2008 Friday 10:09 AM GMT

Turkey slams Argentina in genocide row, cancels visit

ANKARA, April 25 2008

Turkey slammed Argentina Friday over a new parliamentary document
referring to the World War I killings of Armenians as genocide and
cancelled a visit to the country by a cabinet minister.

"The Argentine Senate has approved a new text supporting the baseless
Armenian allegations… (which) we strongly condemn and fully reject,"
the foreign ministry said, without giving details about the document.

"Following the adoption of this resolution, the visit of State
Minister Mehmet Aydin… was cancelled," the statement said.

Aydin has been scheduled to travel to Buenos Aires on April 28-29 for
a gathering of the UN-sponsored Alliance of Civilizations initiative,
which aims to foster dialogue between Islamic and Western societies
and is co-chaired by Spain and Turkey.

Argentina is among an array of countries that have recognised the mass
killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as genocide, much to
Turkey’s ire.

Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen died between 1915
and 1917 in deportations and systematic killings during World War I.

Turkey categorically rejects the genocide label and argues that
300,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when
Armenians took up arms for independence and sided with Russian troops
invading the crumbling empire.

Armenia on Thursday marked the 93rd anniversary of the start of
killings and its new president, Serzh Sarkisian, vowed to redouble
efforts to have the massacres internationally recognised as genocide.