Thursday, 19 May 2005
TNA Parliament Bureau / Ankara
Countries which have officially recognized the so-called Armenian genocide will face retaliation from Turkey, warned Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday. Erdogan added that these 15 countries which have made decisions against Turkey without proof will face similar treatment from Turkey's Parliament, albeit with proof on its side.
Speaking to a Justice and Development (AK) Party group meeting, Erdogan laid out the government's stance on the Armenian genocide claims in clear terms. "In some countries' parliaments, decisions to accept the Armenian genocide were made after they were lobbied," he said. "Their decisions will have an adverse effect on international diplomacy. Such decisions, without using any documents or information, are not supported by any solid evidence. Such decisions have been made in the parliaments of 15 countries so far. We will discuss those 15 countries. Among them are countries which have committed genocide themselves. We will make a similar decision regarding their pasts after studying the documents. Our decisions will be based on historical documents and information. We will take this step."
Erdogan's speech was punctuated by frequent applause by AK Party deputies.
About Armenian Prime Minister Robert Kocharian, who was at this week's Council of Europe summit along with Erdogan, he said: "We have recognized Armenia's independence but we don't have any diplomatic contact. Despite this, we have initiated flights to Yerevan from Istanbul. In another step, our Culture and Tourism Ministry has completed restoring the Armenian church on Van's Akdamar Island. The conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia continues. There are some positive developments, though. France, Britain and the U.S., which have been so effective elsewhere, should become more active in the troubles because their involvement will help lead to a solution. There are seven different regions in Nagorno-Karabakh. We don't know how much of this Armenia will concede.
"We don't want bad relations with any of our neighbors. An Armenian official brought up the so-called Armenian issue [at the summit] when we were not looking. The next day, I replied and reiterated the positions that we have already laid out. We have opened up our state archives and there are over 1 million documents that we have declassified so far. We are ready to look at our history. Let the Armenians open their archives if they have them. Let the historians work on the issue and we will make a political decision when the time is right. Unfortunately, we haven't yet received a positive reply from Armenian President Robert Kocharian."
Erdogan continued, "During its history, Turkey has never degraded itself to the vile cruelty of committing genocide. It's out of the question for us to accept this." Erdogan said that it was normal for the Ottomans, who were battling on three fronts, to decide to relocate the Armenians, who were rebelling at the provocation of other countries. The decision to relocate the Armenians, who lived for centuries under Ottoman rule, should be evaluated according to the conditions of the time, he said. Deaths happened during the relocation, argued Erdogan.
Erdogan declared that Turkey will never accept that a genocide has been committed in its history. He also cited how hundreds of years ago Jews who were expelled from Christian Spain found safe haven in Ottoman territory.
Source: TNA, 19 May 2005
