THE JERUSALEM POST MOCKED ERDOGAN
Lragir.am
28/07/2011
The Jerusalem Post writes: Israel can take solace that it is not
the only country in the world from which Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan is seeking an apology: On Wednesday he demanded one from
Armenia as well. The Turkish news website Today’s Zaman, reporting
on Erdogan’s curren trip to Azerbaijan, quoted him as saying that
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan should apologize for calling on
Armenian school children to occupy eastern Turkey.
Sarksyan, asked by a student if Armenia would get back its ‘western
territories’ along with Mount Ararat – an area of great historical
significance to Armenians – that’s now in Turkey, replied that
‘it depends on you and your generation. I believe my generation
has fulfilled the task in front of us; when it was necessary in the
beginning of the ’90s to defend part of our fatherland – Karabakh –
from the enemy, we did it. I am not telling this to embarrass anyone.
My point is that each generation has its responsibilities and they
have to be carried out with honor.’
The statement infuriated Turkey. According to Today’s Zaman, Erdogan
said Sarksyan’s behavior was a provocation and an attempt to fill youth
with hatred, which he said would lead Armenia’s youth into ‘darkness.’
‘There cannot be such diplomacy. Sarksyan has made a very serious
mistake…. He must apologize,’ Erdogan was quoted as saying.
Erdogan’s demand for an Armenian apology comes just a few days after
he threatened Israel with a ‘Plan B’ – a further downgrading of ties –
if it did not apologize for last year’s Mavi Marmara incident. ‘What
we see here is a pattern developing,’ one Israeli diplomatic source
said of Erdogan’s most recent demand for an apology. ‘Who is going to
ask Erdogan to apologize for Turkey’s occupation of northern Cyprus?’