TURKEY CALLS ON LEADERS TO REJECT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE LABEL
Deutsche Welle, Germany
April 22 2015
Turkey’s president has blamed Armenia for making plans to “insult
Turkey” during ceremonies to mark 100 years since the massacre of
1.5 million Armenians. Ankara rejects assertions the 1915 killings
were genocide.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that Ankara
planned to “discuss peace” when it hosts events to commemorate 100
years since the beginning of the World War I battle in Gallipoli on
April 24 and 25.
During those ceremonies, Erdogan said Armenia “will not be on the
agenda.”
Armenians believe the death of more than 1.5 million people amounts
to a genocide campaign carried out by Ottoman Turks during World War I.
Most Western scholars and two dozen governments regard the 1915
killings as the first genocide of the 20th century.
Ankara, which has no diplomatic ties with Armenia, maintains the deaths
do not constitute genocide as hundreds of thousands of people were
killed on both sides in the war that destroyed the Ottoman Empire. The
modern-day Republic of Turkey was built on its ashes in 1923.
‘Take the initiative’
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Dautoglu said Wednesday he had spoken to
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, asking her “to take the initiative”
to persuade parliament not to acknowledge the killings as genocide
in parliament on April 24, the day the killings began.
Dautoglu’s comments came after Germany’s grand coalition government
on Monday supported a statement with stronger-than-expected language
on the killings.
“The government backs the draft resolution in which the fate of the
Armenians during World War I serves as an example of the history of
mass murders, ethnic cleansings, expulsions, and, yes, the genocides
during the 20th century,” Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen
Seibert, told reporters in Berlin Monday, citing the document agreed
to by Merkel’s Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats.
German parliament will hold a ceremony in memory of the victims on
Friday, while German President Joachim Gauck is expected to use the
term “genocide” at a religious service scheduled for Thursday in
the capital.
Historians, not politicians to decide
Speaking in Ankara on Wednesday, Erdogan said he had talked to US
President Barack Obama about the issue, and he “said it should be
left to the historians, not the politicians,” to determine whether
the killings constituted genocide.
Meanwhile, US Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and Deputy National
Security Advisor Ben Rhodes steered clear of using the word “genocide”
when meeting heads of America’s Armenian community at the White House.
McDonough and Rhodes “discussed the significance of this occasion
for honoring the 1.5 million lives extinguished during that horrific
period,” the Armenian Council said in a statement Wednesday.
The dispute came to a head this month, when Pope Francis called the
1915 massacres a genocide, this prompted Turkey to summon the Vatican
envoy and recall its own.
jlw/sms (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
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From: Katia Peltekian
Subject: Turkey calls on leaders to reject Armenian genocide label
Deutsche Welle, Germany
April 22 2015
Turkey calls on leaders to reject Armenian genocide label
Turkey’s president has blamed Armenia for making plans to “insult
Turkey” during ceremonies to mark 100 years since the massacre of 1.5
million Armenians. Ankara rejects assertions the 1915 killings were
genocide.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that Ankara
planned to “discuss peace” when it hosts events to commemorate 100
years since the beginning of the World War I battle in Gallipoli on
April 24 and 25.
During those ceremonies, Erdogan said Armenia “will not be on the agenda.”
Armenians believe the death of more than 1.5 million people amounts to
a genocide campaign carried out by Ottoman Turks during World War I.
Most Western scholars and two dozen governments regard the 1915
killings as the first genocide of the 20th century.
Ankara, which has no diplomatic ties with Armenia, maintains the
deaths do not constitute genocide as hundreds of thousands of people
were killed on both sides in the war that destroyed the Ottoman
Empire. The modern-day Republic of Turkey was built on its ashes in
1923.
‘Take the initiative’
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Dautoglu said Wednesday he had spoken to
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, asking her “to take the initiative”
to persuade parliament not to acknowledge the killings as genocide in
parliament on April 24, the day the killings began.
Dautoglu’s comments came after Germany’s grand coalition government on
Monday supported a statement with stronger-than-expected language on
the killings.
“The government backs the draft resolution in which the fate of the
Armenians during World War I serves as an example of the history of
mass murders, ethnic cleansings, expulsions, and, yes, the genocides
during the 20th century,” Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman,
Steffen Seibert, told reporters in Berlin Monday, citing the document
agreed to by Merkel’s Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats.
German parliament will hold a ceremony in memory of the victims on
Friday, while German President Joachim Gauck is expected to use the
term “genocide” at a religious service scheduled for Thursday in the
capital.
Historians, not politicians to decide
Speaking in Ankara on Wednesday, Erdogan said he had talked to US
President Barack Obama about the issue, and he “said it should be left
to the historians, not the politicians,” to determine whether the
killings constituted genocide.
Meanwhile, US Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and Deputy National
Security Advisor Ben Rhodes steered clear of using the word “genocide”
when meeting heads of America’s Armenian community at the White House.
McDonough and Rhodes “discussed the significance of this occasion for
honoring the 1.5 million lives extinguished during that horrific
period,” the Armenian Council said in a statement Wednesday.
The dispute came to a head this month, when Pope Francis called the
1915 massacres a genocide, this prompted Turkey to summon the Vatican
envoy and recall its own.
jlw/sms (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)