TURKISH LEADER CRITICIZES OBAMA ON ARMENIA
By Selcan Hacaoglu

Associated Press Worldstream
April 7, 2009 Tuesday 12:54 PM GMT

A nationalist Turkish leader said Tuesday he can’t tolerate the
U.S. president’s lack of courtesy in calling on Turkey to reckon
with its past, resolve its dispute with Armenia and reopen their
shared border.

Devlet Bahceli’s remarks underline the difficulties in overcoming
decades of antagonism with Armenia rooted in WWI-era killings.

Turkey’s mass expulsion of Armenians during World War I which Armenians
say was part of a genocide that claimed 1.5 million lives is rarely
discussed in Turkey or taught in schools. But it is increasingly
becoming a topic as Turkey becomes more open on the road toward
European Union membership.

President Barack Obama avoided the term "genocide" when he addressed
Turkish lawmakers Monday about the bloodshed in the final days of the
Ottoman Empire. Turkey rejects the view that there was a systematic
campaign to wipe out the Armenian population.

Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist Action Party the second largest
opposition party in parliament accused Armenia of carrying out a
"shameless" campaign to condemn Turkey for genocide and claim lands
in eastern Turkey.

Turkey fears that, if the genocide claim is recognized, Armenians
will demand compensation either money or lost land.

"I want to announce from here that we’re rejecting his request
to accept false claims and lies which have nothing to do with our
history," Bahceli said in response to Obama. "It is up to President
Obama whether to face grief and shame in their own history."

As a presidential candidate, Obama said the killings amounted to
genocide. He did not repeat that charge Monday. But he said, in
response to a question, that he had not changed his views.

Turkey is struggling to counter Armenian Diaspora groups that are
pushing European governments and the United States to declare the
killings genocide. Obama’s call focused attention on the issue with
the approach of April 24, the date Armenians mark as the start of
the killings.

Some ordinary Turks said fairness should prevail.

"O.K., let’s face our past but Armenians should not deny their history
either," said Elif Okcugil, a 42-year-old chemist. "The incidents
were first started by Armenians."

As the Muslim Ottoman empire faltered, minority Armenian Christians
began asserting their identity. During World War I, amid reports of
Armenian collusion with the enemy army of Christian Czarist Russia,
Armenians were forced out of towns and villages throughout the Turkish
heartland of Anatolia. Many died.

Turkey says the death toll has been inflated and those killed were
victims of civil war and unrest. Turks who describe it as genocide
have on occasion been prosecuted.

"Politicians and historians will solve this together," said Necdet
Koksal, a 59-year-old cab driver.

Associated Press Reporter Emre Baran in Ankara contributed to this
report.