Has Erdogan altered his announcements on the Armenian Genocide?
30.05.2009 14:29 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Erdogan Criticizes Turkey’s Past and Accuses the
Kemalists of Ethnic Cleansing
On May 23 2009, during a congress of Turkey’s ruling Party (Justice
and Development Party) in Duzce, Eastern Turkey, Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan made an important announcement. He criticized Turkish
nationalism and called the Kemalist foundation of the Republic of
Turkey `fascist’ because of the ethnic cleansing of the Armenian and
Greek minorities. Erdogan said, `For many years Turkey has been
ethnically cleansed of its minorities because of their cultural and
ethnic difference vis-à-vis the Turkish identity. This was the result
of fascism and we as the Justice and Development Party have been
trapped in this wrong political approach and have committed similar
errors’.
The President of the Armenian National Committee of Canada, Dr. Girair
Basmadjian considers Erdogan’s announcement as an improvement in the
domestic politics of Turkey after a continuous denialist politics
adopted by the deep state. `Since the creation of modern Turkey,
successive governments have adopted a policy of Turkification and have
mistreated its minorities. Erdogan’s announcement is canceled the
first made by a Prime Minister accepting Turkey’s past mistakes and
may be considered as a first step for an eventual apology to the
Armenian population for its extermination by the Ottoman government in
1915. However we should not be too optimistic because the current
Turkish government and academia includes numerous influential
`fascists’ and it is not clear if Erdogan’s real intent is to oppose
them. Only a few months ago Professor Turkaya Ataov delivered a
`fascist’ speech calling the West racist and denying the Armenian
Genocide’.
Finally, the Turkish public is faced with an unprecedented choice to
decide which version of history leads to its future, is it the version
adopted by the deep state, people like Ataov and prosecutors who deny
the events of 1915 and try to mislead their own people by penalizing
the open discussion of the Armenian Genocide with the adoption of
article 301 of the penal code? Or the true version that Erdogan
referred to that leads to a peaceful coexistence with neighbors and
regional actors and brings Turkey closer to democratic Europe? Only
time will show if the true version will finally succeed to lead Turkey
to European integration, however if the version adopted by the deep
state prevails, Turkey risks its isolation in the eyes of Europe and
the international community.