“Turkey must recognize the Armenian Genocide”
ANP (Dutch news agency)
December 13, 2004
BRUSSELS (ANP) – Minister of Foreign Affairs, Michel Barnier, said on Monday
in Brussels that France wants for the Turkish state to recognize the
Armenian genocide of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire. According to him it is also
Turkey’s duty to remember. However, Barnier said that the desired
recognition is not a condition to become a member of the European Union.
The Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire is the first genocide of the
twentieth century. Most of the massacres and deportations were carried out
between April 24, 1915, and the end of that year. According to estimates
between one third and three quarters of all Armenians in the Empire were
massacred. According to Armenians up to one and a half million Armenians
died.
Responsible Ottoman ministers could no longer deny the massacres by the
scale of killings and the death marches throughout the country. Just one
month after the beginning of the massacres the Allied Powers condemned the
Turkish actions. Ambassadors of Allied Nations in Constantinople reported
the extermination of the Armenian race to their capitals. The Turkish
republic was founded after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish
government has always officially denied that there was question of organized
genocide.
Dutch foreign minister Mr. Bot confirmed on Monday evening that the
recognition of the genocide is not a requirement for membership of the EU,
but “this is a problem that we must emphasize in the future.”
Armenian Associations have announced a demonstration on Friday in Brussels
before the building where the EU summit must decide over accession
negotiations with Turkey. The Federation of Armenian Organizations in the
Netherlands stated that in spite of insistence by the EU, Ankara has
absolutely neither booked a step forward in its relations with its
neighboring country Armenia, nor on the issue of the genocide of 1915.
The Federation wants of the EU to ensure that Turkey must pursue good
relations with Armenia, by among others opening the border, and that Turkey
must finally recognize the genocide.