ARMENIANS CRITICIZED GONUL WITH A LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER ERDOGAN

Today’s Zaman
Nov 13 2008
Turkey

A group of more than 40 Turkish-Armenians, in an open letter to
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have voiced their grievances
about remarks from Defense Minister Vecdi Gönul that defended the
deportation of Greeks and Armenians from Anatolia at the beginning
of the last century, describing his comments as "praising ethnic
cleansing and crime."

Gönul, in a speech at the Turkish Embassy in Brussels on the occasion
of the anniversary of the death of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on Nov. 10,
claimed that if Greeks and Armenians were still living in the country,
Turkey would not be the same nation-state it is today. He also hinted
that Armenia is supporting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

"If there were Greeks in the Aegean and Armenians in most places in
Turkey today, would it be the same nation-state? I don’t know with
which words I can explain the importance of the population exchange,
but if you look at the former state of affairs, its importance will
become very clear," Gönul said. The Lausanne Treaty, signed in 1923,
called for a population exchange between the Greek Orthodox citizens
of the young Turkish Republic and the Muslim citizens of Greece,
which resulted in the displacement of approximately 2 million people.

The Armenian population that was in Turkey before the establishment
of Turkish Republic was forced to emigrate in 1915, and the conditions
of this expulsion are the basis of Armenian claims of genocide.

In the same speech, Gönul hinted that Armenians are supporting the
PKK. "We cannot deny the contribution of those who consider themselves
the victims of this nation-building, especially the forced emigration,
to the struggle in the southeastern Anatolia," he said.

The group, in their open letter published on a Web site, stated that
Gönul’s remarks contradict the Constitution, which says that anyone
bound to the Turkish Republic by the citizenship is called a Turk.

"It is very difficult to understand, if we are talking about a
Turkish nation, why the Armenians and Greeks [non-Muslims] cannot
be a part of this nation, when Kurds, Arabs and Albanians [Muslims]
can be? To what extent does this mentality, which underlines that
religious unity is required in order to be a nation, fit in with the
contemporary state of law?" the letter asked.

The letter suggested that the changes made by the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AK Party) toward democratization were considered
by intellectuals to be "positive," but that the rivals of the AK
Party claimed these changes are just a disingenuous effort to get
the financial support of the European Union.

"The reaction of the AK party to Gönul’s scandalous remarks will be
a very good indicator of the sincerity of the policies [of AK Party],"
the letter claimed.

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