CHP DEPUTY ARıTMAN UNAPOLOGETIC AS GUL DENIES ARMENIAN ROOTS

Today’s Zaman
Dec 22 2008
Turkey

President Abdullah Gul released a statement yesterday about his
family’s ethnic origins in response to a Republican People’s Party
(CHP) deputy’s attempt to link the president’s attitude toward a
recently launched apology campaign for the Armenian killings at the
hands of the late Ottoman Empire in 1915 to his ethnic roots.

As CHP deputy Canan Arıtman who claimed that President Gul’s mother is
of Armenian origin, continued to attack the president in an interview
published in the Milliyet daily yesterday, saying that she would like
to throw a shoe at the president when she sees him in the same way
an Iraqi journalist last week hurled a shoe at visiting US President
George W. Bush. Gul released a statement denying claims that his
family has Armenian roots.

Arıtman last week attacked the apology campaign initiated by a group
of intellectuals to apologize for the Armenian massacres of 1915,
which Armenians claim constituted genocide. "The false scientists
signing it should apologize to Turkey," she said, claiming that Gul —
because of his "ethnic origins" — was rubberstamping the campaign. "We
see that the president supports this campaign. Abdullah Gul should be
the president of the entire Turkish nation, not just of those sharing
his ethnicity. Investigate the ethnic origin of the president’s mother
and you will see."

Arıtman drew ire with her comments, with some critics accusing her
of racism.

In his statement yesterday, Gul announced that his mother’s side,
the Satoglu family from Kayseri, and his father’s side, the Gul family
also from Kayseri, are Muslim and Turkish, according to centuries of
written genealogy records.

"I respect the ethnic background, different beliefs and family ties of
all my citizens and see this as a reality and also the wealth of our
country with its imperial history. I also would like to emphasize
that all my citizens are equal to one another regardless of any
differences. No one has any superiority whatsoever over another
one. Everybody has the equal and same rights under the guarantee of
our Constitution," the statement read. "I am proud of our country,
which has reached this level of understanding."

When Gul was asked for his opinion on the campaign, he said the
state’s stance is to improve relations with its neighbors. "We
believe dialogue to be the solution for problems we have with our
neighbors. Perpetuating problems is not useful to anyone," he said.

"I would toss a shoe and draw attention to this issue," Arıtman told
Milliyet. She also responded to Gul’s brother Mehmet Mecit Gul, who
said that the Gul and Satoglu families (the family of Gul’s mother)
would be suing her. "I wouldn’t recommend suing me. They would
be embarrassed. There is no legal basis for such a lawsuit," she
said. "If I do sue the president on charges of supporting incidents
that might lead to an ethnic conflict, that would have a legal basis."

Arıtman also dismissed claims that her remarks were aimed at insulting
a particular ethnicity. "The nation has got me. I don’t understand why
the press just wouldn’t," she told Milliyet. She said she had known
about Gul’s alleged Armenian background for a long time, adding that
she should be appreciated for not revealing the information during
Gul’s election campaign.

Parliament Speaker Köksal Toptan, speaking to journalists at Ankara’s
Esenboga Airport on Sunday before his departure for Macedonia for
an official visit, said the apology campaign was unfair as it was an
attempt to unilaterally convict Turkey. However, he said, Arıtman’s
words were "extremely improper."

"She said things that would have never been said under the oath we take
in Parliament," he said. "We can never engage in a behavior such as
researching each other’s roots and then drawing certain conclusions
from there. I would have expected to hear Arıtman agree that her
expression went overboard. But I was saddened by her new statements
today in newspapers confirming her earlier statement."

Speaking at a CHP congress yesterday, Arıtman responded to Gul’s
statement. "I never asked the president to announce his genealogical
background. I just wanted him to protect his nation and state, the
duty assigned to him by the Constitution."

"Why doesn’t the president show the principled stance shown by the
prime minister?" Arıtman asked during the congress. Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacted harshly to the statement, saying he had
nothing to apologize for.

"It is wrong for the president not to demonstrate the same stance. How
can a president not protect the rights and pride of his state and
nation?" she asked, telling Milliyet that the campaign had worked to
create the impression in the international community that Turkey had
accepted the allegations of genocide.

"Armenian intellectuals posted an online thank you letter to Gul,"
Arıtman said. "An Azerbaijani deputy I know will translate and send
it to me. They are telling Gul: ‘Thank you. You have [made yourself
a place] in history by being the first president to recognize the
genocide.’

"How come the president — who never remembers democracy and freedoms
in Workers’ Day celebrations when women on the ground are being kicked
by the police — supports those who say we committed genocide and who
apologizes for that?" The CHP also reacted to Arıtman’s comments on
Gul’s Armenian background.

CHP issues warning for Arıtman

Meanwhile, the CHP administration issued a warning for Arıtman
after she appeared on two TV news shows about her allegations over
Gul without the CHP administration’s permission.

The warning reminded Arıtman that, according to the party bylaws, CHP
deputies are supposed to inform the party administration about the TV
programs they will appear on and the press statements they will make.

It said Arıtman’s television appearances ran counter to the party’s
regulations.

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