TURKEY’S LEADING OPPOSITION PARTY CONDEMNS PARDON CAMPAIGN FOR ARMENIA

Trend News Agency
Dec 17 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 17/TrendNews, B.Hasanov/ Turkish leading
opposition party condemns the pardon campaign for Armenia.

"Not Turks but Armenians should ask pardon for the atrocity they
committed in Turkey and Azerbaijan," MP Mehmet Shandir, deputy chairman
of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (NMP), told TrendNews in a
telephone conversation from Ankara on Dec. 17.

A Turkish website, created several days ago, states that the Ottoman
Empire committed crimes against Armenians in 1915, and conducts a
pardon campaign for Armenia. A total of 5,000 people have passed
registration on the website and have asked pardon from Armenians,
says Turkish media.

Armenia and Armenian lobby worldwide state that in 1915 the Ottoman
Empire, Turkey’s predecessor, committed genocide against Armenians
living in Anatolia. Armenians striving to make their statements
recognized worldwide have strengthened their propaganda of the
so-called genocide in several countries and have achieved recognition
of the "Armenian genocide" at several Parliaments.

Shandir says there is no reason for the Turkish nation to
beg pardon. "From whose behalf and for what reason do they ask
pardon?" he asked, adding that those asking pardon make treason and
are psychologically diseased. "Not Turks but those who betrayed the
Ottoman Empire, those who committed the Khojali genocide, and those
who shut their eyes to these atrocities should beg pardon from all
Turks," he said.