MIXED FEELINGS FOR "GENOCIDE" PETITION

Hurriyet
Dec 12 2008
Turkey

ISTANBUL – Over 300 Armenian professionals, including representatives
from the media, nongovernmental organizations, academia and the
artistic community, have sent a message to President Abdullah Gul
calling on him to recognize the events of 1915 as an act of genocide.

The message said the painful events of 1915 were keeping the people of
the two countries apart and that acceptance of the events as genocide
was not just a request of the Armenian people but of the whole global
community. The message also said relations between Armenia and Turkey
would only be normalized by such a recognition.

Turkish intellectuals A group of Turkish intellectuals have also
recently started a similar campaign. "We reject ignoring the disaster
the Ottoman Armenians faced in 1915 and share in the emotion and pain
of our Armenian brothers," the petition states. Already a target of
debate and attack, the petition will collect signatures online from
New Year’s Day.

"More important than Gul’s response is that this letter shows the
Armenian people’s attitude towards the issue. This has become an entire
social movement," the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaksutyun
Bureau’s International Secretariat Director Giro Manoian, told the
Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review. He said relations between Turks
and Armenians would only normalize with the acceptance of the events
as genocide.

Brave but insufficient Stating the Turkish intellectual’s campaign was
"brave but insufficient," he said: "I say insufficient because any
imposition of genocide acceptance must be made directly by the state."

The oriental studies director from the Republic of Armenia National
Academy of Sciences Institute, Professor Ruben Safrastian, said Gul’s
response was important. "I hope that President Gul, known for his
intellectual leanings, will offer a different answer from those of
Turkey’s official statements."

Regarding the Turkish campaign, Safrastian said: "The Turkish people
want to know about their past and the genocide matter is a leading
issue. Turkish intellectuals, on their way to the European Union,
are able to approach these problems objectively."