SCHIFF CALLS ON TURKEY TO RECOGNIZE GENOCIDE
Yerkir
02.09.2009 15:39
Yerevan (Yerkir) – Reacting to the Monday’s announcement of protocols
for the establishment and development of relations between Armenia
and Turkey, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said true reconciliation will
occur when Turkey recognizes the Genocide, Asbarez reported.
"While I welcome what may be an important step in the rapprochement
between Armenia and Turkey and hope that the upcoming talks result in
a swift opening of full diplomatic and commercial relations between
Ankara and Yerevan, as well as a reopening of the border, I have
serious concerns about some provisions of the protocols accompanying
the announcement," said Schiff on Tuesday.
"In particular, I was deeply disappointed to see that the protocols
call for the creation of an historical commission to review the
events of 1915-23. This is a thoroughly discredited idea; there is no
dispute among scholars that the Armenian people were the subject of
genocide during the waning days of the Ottoman Empire and an historical
commission is another effort to obfuscate the truth," added Schiff.
"Turkey cannot be allowed to re-write this tragic part of its
history as a price for normal relations with Armenia. To do so means
acquiescence in a charade that demeans the memory of so many victims,"
explained the Congressman.
"True reconciliation between the Armenian and20Turkish peoples will
occur when Turkey acknowledges the genocide that was committed by
the Ottoman Empire against Armenians from 1915 – 1923. The Armenian
Genocide, the first genocide of the 20th Century, resulted in the
deaths of 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children and the sorrow
that the Armenian people carry in their hearts cannot be healed by
diplomatic relations alone," reaffirmed Schiff.