TURKISH PM SAYS TURKEY HAS ‘NOTHING IN PAST TO BE ASHAMED OF’

ArmInfo
2010-04-01 18:28:00

ArmInfo. The Turkish premier said the adoption of such bills
(resolution on Armenian Genocide) did not comply with diplomatic
courtesy or justice.

Turkish premier on Wednesday scorned the adoption of two separate bills
by the Swedish parliament and a U.S. House panel that affirmed Armenian
Genocide in 1915 in the Ottoman Empire, expressing firm belief that
Turkey had nothing in its past to be ashamed of, Turkish media report.

"Neither Sweden nor the United States had anything to do with the
incidents that occurred nearly a century ago. And once you make history
a mere tool for politics, you might never be able to find the truth
again," Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a televised address to the nation.

Erdogan said there were no competent scientific studies that shed
a light on what really happened in 1915, and he accused politicians
to take advantage of the allegations in favor of their domestic or
foreign interests.

"Turkey has always defended that history should be left up to
historians and it should be allowed to make the decision," Erdogan
said.