NO APOLOGY FROM TURKEY’S LEADER

Philadelphia Inquirer
Dec 18 2008
PA

In the World

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey’s prime minister yesterday said he would not
join a group of Turkish intellectuals who issued an apology on the
Internet for alleged World War I-era massacres of Armenians in Turkey.

"If there is a crime, then those who committed it can offer an
apology. My nation, my country has no such issue," Recep Tayyip
Erdogan said. "I personally do not support this campaign."

The Turkish prime minister’s reaction, echoed by nationalists and even
members of opposition parties, was a setback for the intellectuals’
hopes to nurture reconciliation by shattering a taboo against
acknowledging Turkish culpability for the deaths.

Several Turkish diplomats and lawmakers have condemned the apology,
and hundreds of Turks joined groups that popped up on Facebook with
such titles as "I am not apologizing." – AP

Protest banners hung on Acropolis ATHENS, Greece – Heaping new
embarrassment on a government reeling from days of rioting, protesters
hung giant banners off Greece’s most famous monument, the Acropolis,
yesterday, calling for mass demonstrations across Europe.

The two pink banners were unfurled over the walls of the ancient
citadel, which towers above central Athens, and they could be seen
for miles around. One bore the word Resistance in large black letters
in Greek, English, Spanish and German.

The other called for demonstrations throughout the continent today,
when students plan major marches in Athens and Greece’s second-largest
city, Thessaloniki, to protest the death of 15-year-old Alexandros
Grigoropoulos, killed in a police shooting on Dec. 6.

"This hurts the image of our country abroad. . . . It is unacceptable,"
government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress