TURKEY REJECTS EU CALL TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Agence France Presse — English
September 5, 2006 Tuesday 12:54 PM GMT
Turkey denounced on Tuesday a European Union report saying that Ankara
must recognize the 1915-1917 genocide in Armenia as a condition for
joining the EU.
"We are dismayed by efforts aiming to impose preconditions that are
far from objective on questions that require serious academic inquiry,"
the Turkish foreign ministry said in a communique.
A report adopted by the EU parliament’s foreign affairs committee
Monday night deplored Turkey’s lack of progress in implementing reforms
needed to join the rich 25-nation bloc, and alluded specifically the
Ankara’s refusal to acknowledge the Armenian genocide.
"Certain elements of the report… written with political
considerations are not compatible with the credibility of the European
parliament," the Turkish foreign ministry said.
Armenians estimate that up to 1.5 million of their forebear perished
in systematic killings orchestrated by the Ottoman Empire between
1915 to 1917.
Ankara rejects all accusations of genocide, estimating the number of
Armenian deaths at 300,000 and arguing they were not a consequence
of deliberate extermination but a combination of war, disease, famine
and ethnic conflict.