Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
May 16 2008
Turkish association releases report on US bill on Armenia
Istanbul, 16 May: An influential employers’ association in Turkey has
released a report on an Armenian bill regarding the incidents of 1915,
which was adopted last year by the Committee on Foreign Relations of
the US House of Representatives but was turned down by the general
assembly.
The report, drawn up by researcher and specialist in law David
Saltzman for the Turkish Industrialists’ & Businessmen’s Association
(TUSIAD), was presented on Thursday [15 May] at a Washington
conference on Turkish-US relations.
The report, "US House of Representatives Resolution 106: Legal and
Factual Deficiencies," said that there had never been a legal opinion
that can justify the 1915 incidents as "genocide", and those who
contended the allegations had never brought them before an
international court.
"The global public opinion is focused on this one-sided view. And the
rejection to acknowledge facts and the failure to consider the
historical background of the incidents help this view attain a
continuity," the report said.
Turkey has long been facing a systematic campaign of defamation
carried out by Armenian lobby groups. The Armenian diaspora has lately
increased its organized activities throughout the world for the
acknowledgment of their unfounded allegations in regard to the
incidents of 1915 as "genocide" by national and local parliaments.
In 2005, Turkey has officially proposed to the Armenian government the
establishment of a joint commission of historians and other experts
from both sides to study the incidents. Armenia has yet to respond
positively to this initiative. Turkey’s proposal is still on the
table.