Trend, Azerbaijan
April 18 2015

MEPs call resolution on 1915 events ‘unbalanced’

18 April 2015, 10:19 (GMT+05:00)

As the European Parliament adopted a resolution Wednesday to recognize
the 1915 events as “genocide,” some MEPs have called the act
“unbalanced.” Anadolu Agency reported

“I cannot say it (the resolution) was balanced,” Greens lawmaker
Ernest Maragall told The Anadolu Agency on Thursday. “Europe has to
help to create the common table (and) the common scenarios where the
Turkish people (and) the Armenian people could frankly explain
themselves to each other and look for and understand reconciliation.”

Maragall added that one must distinguish between the Ottoman Empire
and the current Turkish state, which has accepted more than 1.7
million Syrian refugees since the Syrian civil war began in 2011.

“We should take into account that Turkey deserves respect and deserves
recognition from European countries,” Maragall said regarding the
Syrian refugees in Turkey.

The European Parliament first recognized the 1915 events as “genocide”
in a 1987 resolution, which the parliament reiterated in a vote
Wednesday — the centenary of the 1915 events.

Ismail Ertug, a member of the European Parliament for the Socialists
and Democrats, told AA on Thursday that pressure for the “recognition
of the Armenian genocide” in Turkey has not helped so far in bringing
reconciliation between Turks and Armenians.

“There needs to be a common agreement in order for Turkey and Armenia
to normalize relations,” Ertug said. “Negotiations will not start and
problems will not be solved unless there is confidence.”

Turkey has repeatedly rejected the EU’s definition of the events and
has said that Armenians died during a relocation process in 1915
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.

Armenia has demanded an apology and compensation, while Turkey has
officially refuted Armenian allegations over the incidents saying
that, although Armenians died during the relocations, many Turks also
lost their lives in attacks carried out by Armenian gangs in Anatolia.

Opening archives

Turkey has called for the establishment of a joint commission of
historians and the opening of archives to study and uncover what
actually happened between the Ottoman government and its Armenian
citizens.

Ertug said calls for establishing a joint historians’ commission is a
good idea, but that it is frozen if the calls are unanswered.

“I think Turkey should not stop there,” he said. “Turkey should go on
with this process in a fair and impartial manner.”

‘A tragedy’

The European Commission has refused to call the 1915 events a
“genocide” following the European Parliament’s resolution.

The European Commission, the 28-nation-bloc’s executive body, referred
to the 1915 events as a “tragedy.”

European Commission Vice President Kristalina Georgieva told the
European Parliament on Wednesday that the EU “fully acknowledges the
significance of the upcoming commemoration as well as the divergence
of views over this tragedy.”