Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

ANKARA: Turkish Amb. argues only historians have right to decide onm

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • ANKARA: Turkish Amb. argues only historians have right to decide onm

    Cyprus Press & Information Office - Occupied Northern Cyprus
    March 1 2005



    Turkish ambassador argues that only historians have the right to
    decide on the massacre of one and a half million Armenians by Turkey


    Ankara Anatolia news agency (27.02.05) reported from Berlin that the
    Turkish Ambassador to Germany Mehmet Ali Irtemcelik on Saturday
    released a statement about a draft resolution, which will be
    submitted to the German federal parliament in April by CDU/CSU group
    under the title of ''commemoration of Armenians on the 90th
    anniversary of their relocation and massacre on April 24th, 1915 -
    Germany should contribute to provide peace between Turks and
    Armenians''.
    In his statement, Irtemcelik said: ''Only historians have the right
    to make decisions about historical events. The draft includes many
    prejudices, mistakes and unilateral expectations about Turkey-Armenia
    relations.''

    ''Armenians resorted to organized terrorism not only in Eastern
    Anatolia during the World War I, but also in many places in the world
    from Los Angeles to Vienna, from Beirut to Paris in the near past to
    reach their political targets. Armenia did not recognize Turkey's
    territorial integrity and the existing borders with Turkey. Also,
    despite all warnings of the international community, Armenia has
    still been occupying territories of Azerbaijan. Under the light of
    all these, we find it strange that German political parties have
    undertaken spokesmanship of fanatic Armenian nationalism. We think
    that CDU/CSU did not understand the importance and sensitivity of the
    issue,'' he said.

    ''No one can reach anywhere by defaming Turkish people and their
    history. No one has the right to hamper our integration process, and
    our historic and friendly relations with Germany. Before putting
    forward such baseless allegations, everyone should study the history
    carefully. Besides many Armenians, countless innocent Muslim people
    died in those years. If they aim to assist Turkey and Armenia to
    improve their relations, they should realize that such issues are
    extremely serious and cannot be used as a tool for domestic policies
    of the third countries. Instead of preparing such drafts, I invite
    them to persuade Armenian President Robert Kocharian and the Armenian
    government to give up their policy preventing formation of a peaceful
    atmosphere in Southern Caucasus,'' he added.

    Moreover, Ankara Anatolia (28.02.05) reported from Vienna that
    Armenian historians will not attend the meeting to be held in
    Austrian capital of Vienna in May in which they will exchange
    documents with Turkish historians regarding the so-called Armenian
    genocide, the Vienna Armenian-Turkish Platform (VAT) said on Monday.

    VAT, acting as a mediator between Turkish and Armenian historians who
    are willing to exchange documents, stated that Prof. Dr. Lavrenti
    Barseghian, the director of Yerevan genocide museum, and Prof. Dr.
    Ashot Melkonian, the director of the History Department of the
    Armenian Sciences Academy, notified them in writing that they would
    not attend the second meeting planned to be held in May.

    Pointing out that the main target of the Armenian diaspora in 2005 is
    to make several countries ''accept the 1915 incidents as genocide'',
    VAT-member historians stress that Turkey has proved that it is ready
    for dialogue and will take action for a possible solution.

    VAT historians added: ''As VAT, we expect the international
    community, particularly Armenia and Turkey, to deal with this matter
    more seriously and systematically. And, we believe that both parties
    will establish dialogue with each other under equal circumstances,
    and take VAT concept as a model.''

    The VAT, comprised of historians working at the Vienna University
    namely Prof. Dr. Wolfdieter Bihl, Dr. Kerstin Tomenendal, Dr. Inanc
    Atilgan and Dr. Artem Ohandjanian, had been a platform for exchange
    of documents between Turkish and Armenian historians in July of 2004.


    Prof. Dr. Yusuf Halacoglu, the head of the Turkish History Authority
    (TTK), and Prof. Dr. Hikmet Ozdemir, the head of the Armenian Desk of
    TTK, joined the first meeting held in Vienna in July 2004 and
    delivered 100 documents regarding the 1915 incidents to VAT
    officials.

    On the other hand, Armenian historians did not participate in July's
    meeting and sent 100 documents to the meeting via VAT member
    historian Dr. Artem Ohandjanian of Armenian origin.
Working...
X