ARMENIAN DIASPORA DID NOT ALLOW ERECTING KEMAL ATATURK’S MONUMENT IN BUENOS AIRES: HURRIYET
Tert.am
09:29 31.05.10
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan cancelled the Argentina
leg of his tour of Latin America.
It comes after city officials in Buenos Aires called off an event
inaugurating a monument to the revered founder of modern Turkey,
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
The Turkish foreign ministry blamed “hostile” interference from
Armenian pressure groups in Argentina, reports BBC News.
According to local Turkish Daily Hurriyet the reason Erdogan cancelled
his visit is that the Argentine authorities, under the pressure of the
Armenian Diaspora, refused erecting Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s monument
in Buenos Aires.
Further the newspaper mentions that Ankara and Buenos Aires had
earlier agreed upon erecting this monument, but Buenos Aires by a
last-minute decision and refused doing it.
“The Buenos Aires administration yielded to the pressure of a
100,000-strong Armenian Diaspora in Argentine and annulled the written
permit,” reads the newspaper, adding that even Turkish Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu’s talks did not give any result.
Davutoglu had requested the Argentine to remain committed to their
liability.
Armenians want Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide orchestrated
by Ottoman Turks in 1915: Argentina is one of several countries to
have done so.
President Cristina Kirchner is reported to have telephoned Erdogan
to express her understanding of his position, but to explain that the
central government could not reverse the city government’s decision.
Erdogan had been due to meet Kirchner on Monday but will now travel
directly to Chile for the next leg of the tour.
From: A. Papazian