Hürriyet, Turkey
June 14 2008

Sweden rejects Armenian so-called "genocide" claim

The Swedish parliament rejected Wednesday a draft law proposing
recognition of the Armenian allegations regarding incidents of
1915. The parliament rejected the bill while 245 votes against and 37
for the proposal.

Turkey welcomed the decision. "Turkish public, with its government and
opposition, is grateful to all the political parties represented in
the Swedish Parliament for both their support to Turkey’s EU bid and
their decision rejecting calls for recognition of Armenian
allegations," Egemen Bagis, Turkish prime minister’s advisor and an
AKP MP, was quoted as telling reporters by the state-run Anatolian
Agency.

Turkey has long been facing a systematic campaign of defamation
carried out by Armenian lobbying groups. The Armenian diaspora has
lately increased its organized activities throughout the world for the
recognition of their unfounded allegations in regard to the events of
1915 as "genocide" by national and local parliaments.

Some 300,000 Armenians and at least an equal number of Turks were
killed in civil strife when Armenians, backed by Russia, rose up
against the Ottomans in 1915. However Armenians claim in a systematic
campaign of defamation some 1.5 million of their kinsmen died in
orchestrated killings during the 1915 incidents.

The parliaments of Argentina, Belgium, France, Netherlands,
Switzerland, Italy, Canada, Lebanon, the Russian Federation, Slovakia,
Uruguay, Greece, the Greek Cypriot administration, Poland, Germany,
Lithuania, Chile, Venezuela and the European Parliament passed either
resolutions or issued statements.

Turkey says parliaments and other political institutions are not the
appropriate for to debate and pass judgments on disputed periods of
history. Past events and controversial periods of history should be
left to the historians for their dispassionate study and evaluation.

However Turkey’s efforts to carry a deeper investigation have yet made
a positive outcome. In 2005, Turkey has officially proposed to the
government of Armenia the establishment of a joint commission of
history composed of historians and other experts from both sides to
study together the events of 1915 not only in the archives of Turkey
and Armenia but also in the archives of all relevant third countries
and to share their findings with the public. Unfortunately, Armenia
has not responded positively to this initiative, yet. Turkey’s
proposal is still on the table.