TURKISH LAWYER CLAIMS TO RECOGNIZE THE 1915 GENOCIDE

Aysor
March 31 2010
Armenia

Turkish lawyer Bendal Celil Ezman has applied to the Ankara Court,
claiming to recognize the 1915 massacres of more than 1,5 million
Armenians as a Genocide, Russian media reported citing Turkish
sources. Before, Bendal Celil Ezman campaigned for apologies for the
tragic happenings of 1915.

In Bendal Celil Ezman’s claim, sent to the Second Ankara Criminal
Court, is said that "Sait Halim Pasha’s government of Turkey committed
genocide against Turkish population of Armenian origin in 1915,"
Haber Turk paper reported. "Armenians were killed in 1915 within the
framework of a special scheduled plan," the paper quotes Bendal Celil
Ezman’s claim.

"Turkey must face with its past," Ezman said in an interview.

This is the first precedent of filing of a claim to the Criminal Court
over the issue of the 1915 Genocide, stressed Turkish lawyer. When
asked if he doesn’t afraid of taking these steps, Ezman said:
"Everything that happens is Allah’s will, if something happens to me."

Turkey has been campaigning vigorously against process of recognition
of the 1915 Genocide. It traditionally denies all those massacres,
mass killings, deportations, executions, starvations, and other means
that resulted in 1,5 million deaths among Armenians. Any regarding
to Genocide and a campaign on recognition and condemnation the 1915’s
crimes is a very sensitive and offensive issue to Turkey.

The 1915 Genocide is recognized by Uruguay (recognized and condemned
the first, in 1965), Russia, France, Italy, Netherlands, Germany,
Belgium, Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Greece,
Cyprus, Lebanon, Canada, Chile, Argentina, and 42 States of America;
Vatican, the European Parliament, and the World Council of Churches.