Anadolu Agency, Turkey
April 18 2015

Armenian ‘genocide’ being used as tool: Turkish Speaker

18 April 2015 17:08 (Last updated 18 April 2015 17:11)

Turkish Parliament Speaker Cicek has accused foreign countries of
using 1915 events as a tool to harm Turkey.

ANKARA

Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek has accused foreign countries
of using the Armenian “genocide” issue as a tool to harm Turkey.

Addressing a press conference at a symposium titled “Imperialism and
the Armenian Issue” in Ankara Saturday, Cicek said that the countries
who had been backing terrorism in Turkey for years were the same
countries who now supported the Armenian “genocide” issue.

“We have to know who they are. If we cannot estimate who are those
countries after all those pains and experience, then it is a shame for
us,” he said.

Cicek said the Turkish government approached at least 112 countries
and sent more than 40 letters to parliaments of various countries to
give the Turkish point of view about the 1915 events.

“But the western world insistently refuses to learn the truth and
still continuing its hypocrisy,” he said.

He added that the foreign countries were using the 1915 incidents as a
tool to harm Turkey. “We need to see that it is not just the Armenian
issue. It is a problem standing in front of the Turkish government. We
cannot ignore it, on the contrary, we have to lay too much stress on
it to reveal the truth,” he said.

Criticizing Wednesday’s European Parliament resolution that described
the 1915 events affecting Armenians as “genocide,” Cicek said: “The
European Parliament has made an unfair and biased decision.”

Pope Francis also said last week that “the first genocide of the 20th
century” had struck Armenians, which led Turkey to recall its
ambassador to the Vatican and also to summon the Vatican’s envoy in
Ankara.

The 1915 events took place during World War I when a portion of the
Armenian population living in the Ottoman Empire sided with the
invading Russians and revolted against the empire.

The Ottoman Empire relocated Armenians in eastern Anatolia following
the revolts and there were Armenian casualties during the process.

From: A. Papazian