DEFIANT TURKEY DRAWS RED LINE OVER ARMENIA GENOCIDE RECOGNITION
Agence France Presse
April 13, 2015 Monday 4:29 PM GMT
Istanbul, April 13 2015
Rejecting worldwide pressure, Turkey has drawn a defiant red line in
refusing to recognise the mass killings of Armenians in World War I
as genocide on the 100th anniversary year of the tragedy.
Turkey’s tough approach on the issue was shown Sunday by Ankara’s
incendiary reaction to the use by Pope Francis of the word “genocide”
to describe the killings, summoning the Vatican nuncio and recalling
the Turkish envoy to the Holy See.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, in an unusual attack by a world leader
on the pontiff, accused Francis of a “one-sided” and “inappropriate”
attitude that he said ignored the suffering of Muslims in World War I.
The exchanges have intensified tensions ahead of the 100th the
anniversary of the start of the killings on April 24.
Even before the pope waded into the controversy, Armenians accused
Turkey of trying to overshadow what they call their genocide
commemorations by staging ceremonies on the same day to mark the
centenary of the famous World War I battle of Gallipoli.
“Mind your own business, Pope,” screamed the headline in the
pro-government Star daily. “The New Crusade,” fumed the Aydinlik daily
A Turkish government source told AFP that Ankara had been “truly
surprised” by the comments, which were made in a Mass in Saint Peter’s
Basilica at the Vatican to mark the Ottoman killings of Armenians.
– ‘Risk of deterioration’ –
Armenia and Armenians in the diaspora say 1.5 million of their
forefathers were killed by Ottoman forces in a targeted campaign
ordered by the military leadership of the Ottoman empire to eradicate
the Armenian people from Anatolia in what is now eastern Turkey,
an argument backed by several European parliaments.
Turkey takes a sharply different view of the tragedy, saying that
hundreds of thousands of both Turks and Armenians lost their lives
as Ottoman forces battled the Russian Empire for control of eastern
Anatolia during World War I.
While President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Islamic-rooted ruling
party has been credited with assisting Turkey’s religious minorities,
they have shown no sign of budging in the genocide controversy.
Erdogan offered an expression of condolences to Armenians in 2014
but this has not been followed by any further steps, with rhetoric
sharpening even further.
“It is unlikely that Turkey will change its position after Pope
Francis’ statement,” said Marc Pierini, visiting scholar at Carnegie
Europe, pointing to June 7 legislative elections where nationalist
votes will be crucial.
He said an “entrenched position” by Turkey on the issue “clearly
entails the risk of deterioration of the climate between Turkey and
Western countries” ahead of the April 24 anniversary.
For many Turks, it is inconceivable to consider that Ottoman forces
were responsible for the gravest of all crimes, at a time when they
were commanded by figures credited with laying the foundations for
the creation of modern Turkey in 1923.
They prefer to concentrate on the anniversary of the Battle of
Gallipoli, where Ottoman forces resisted attack by the Allied Powers,
a formative moment for Turkey whose anniversary falls on almost
exactly the same day as the start of campaigns against Armenians.
– Not ashamed –
“There is no period of time in Turkey’s history that it would be
ashamed of,” said Europe Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir, describing
the pope’s statements as “null and void”.
The 100th anniversary of the start of the tragedy — which Armenians
trace back to the arrest of the leaders of the Armenian community in
Istanbul on April 24, 1915 — has been a matter of major concern for
Turkey with the government seeking to engage in offensive diplomacy.
Armenians have expressed outrage that Turkey is holding its main
ceremonies for the anniversary of Gallipoli on April 24 and not the
usual date of April 25, leaving world leaders with a dilemma over
whose event to attend.
Turkey’s worst nightmare would be US recognition of the killings as
genocide and on March 18, 44 US lawmakers introduced a resolution
pressing President Barack Obama to acknowledge that interpretation.
Commentator Murat Yetkin argued in the Hurriyet Daily News that the
chief strategy of the Arenian diaspora was to encourage recognition by
the United States “not only because of its political and psychological
effect, but also because of its legal consequences.”
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