ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE ACCEPTS TURKISH THESIS RE. ARMENIAN ‘GENOCIDE’
PoliGazette
July 2, 2008
Netherlands
Good news for Turkey, and for those who believe that what happened
to the Armenians does not or at least may not constitute genocide
and that Armenians should open their archives to historians: the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe agrees. The
OSCE is the biggest international organization behind the United
Nations. As such, this is a big victory for the Turks and, as far as
I am concerned, for the truth.
55 states have joined the OSCE in recent decades. The list of the
member states can be found here. The Netherlands is a member, Germany
is a member, Turkey is a member, Belarus is, Belgium is as well, the
USA is, and so is the UK. It’s a gigantic organization, and quite an
important one at that.
The Turks wanted the general assembly to adopt a motion it submitted
about the genocide allegations. The motion dismisses the allegations,
saying that historians should decide whether something constitutes
genocide or not, and calls on all groups and countries involved to
open their archives to said historians for research. Turkey opened its
archives years ago already, whereas Armenia and Armenian organizations
refuse to do so (probably because the archives prove the Turkish
charges that Armenians committed some serious ethnic cleansing
themselves and because these archives may very well disprove the
charge of genocide… disproving it by Armenians).
Alaattin Buyukkaya, who leads the Turkish group at the OSCE
Parliamentary Assembly, told reporters Wednesday: "The OSCE is the
biggest international organization behind the United Nations. Adoption
of the Turkish thesis by the OSCE is a significant achievement against
the Armenian allegations. Also, the Turkish thesis regarding the
events of 1915 was adopted for the first time on an international
platform. The OSCE has 56 member states. Only Armenia voted against
the motion. A majority of the other member states voted in favor of
it," he said.
"The motion says that the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly encourages the
formation of joint history commissions by historians and experts from
the third countries in case of a research into political and military
archives to scientifically and unbiasedly enlighten a disputed period
in history in an effort to serve transparency and common understanding
among the member states," Buyukkaya added.
This is a significant victory for the no-genocide side. More
organizations and countries, I am sure, will follow in future
years. Lets not forget that the European Union too changed its
official position on the events of 1915. The Union too wants all those
involved to open the archives so that historians can do research and
cast judgment. This is something Armenian activists are trying to
prevent. And desperately so.
The reason? Simple. Lands and money. For Armenian activists and the
Armenian government, this isn’t about ethnic cleansing of genocide;
it’s about lands and financial compensation (take a look at the
Armenian constitution I’d say; the Armenians still claim Eastern