SYDNEY ARMENIANS NOT GOING TO APOLOGIZE TO TURKEY
PanARMENIAN.Net
02.02.2009 14:21 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Reports on an apology campaign allegedly to be
launched by Armenian intellectuals of Sydney are untrue, head of
the ARF Dashnaktsutyun Bureau’s Hay Dat and Political Affairs Office
Director Kiro Manoyan told PanARMENIAN.Net.
"During an online discussion, Sydney University professor Armen
Gakavian expressed an opinion which was later ascribed to the entire
Armenian community," Mr. Manoyan said.
Gavakian presumed that the campaign launched by the Turkish
intellectuals should be followed by a similar move on the Armenian
part.
"Certainly, his offer caused indignation of the other participants
of the discussion," Mr. Manoyan said. "Some of the Turkish campaign
initiators hoped that Armenians will follow their example and apologize
for the national liberation struggle in the Ottoman Empire during
World War I. It’s outrageous because the Armenian Genocide can’t be
equaled to the resistance Armenians put up during those years."
Radikal Turkish newspaper quoted Armen Gakavian as saying that
"Armenia should apologize to the Turkish nation for killing several
thousand of Turks in the early 20th century."
U.S. scholar Denis Papazian is reported to support the initiative.