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ANKARA: FM calls for peace while paying tribute to slain diplomats

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  • ANKARA: FM calls for peace while paying tribute to slain diplomats

    Today's Zaman, Turkey
    March 17 2007

    FM Gül calls for peace while paying tribute to slain diplomats


    Commemorating martyred members of the Turkish Foreign Ministry at a
    ceremony held in Ankara, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül called for
    attention to the fact that certain radical Armenian groups who now
    support the recognition of an alleged Armenian genocide also once
    supported terrorist activities.


    Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül attended a ceremony in Ankara yesterday
    commemorating martyred members of the Foreign Ministry. Dozens of
    Turkish diplomats were slain in the past in attacks by the Armenian
    Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia, or ASALA.
    "I hope that those who are attempting to politicize the alleged
    genocide will not play this game and instead remember past terror
    incidents, remember how those groups for which they feel sympathy now
    produced terrorists at the time, and remember how they carried out
    terrorist activities in countries assumed to be the most civilian,"
    Gül said at the ceremony.

    "The entire world knows well that the Turkish nation didn't hesitate
    to sacrifice their lives for moral values," Gül added, referring to
    the fact that dozens of Turkish diplomats were murdered in the past
    in attacks by the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia
    (ASALA). Thirty-nine Foreign Ministry diplomats buried in the Cebeci
    Cemetery in Ankara were killed as a result of Armenian terrorism or
    some other terrorist attacks.

    Expressing the pride that his ministry feels for the martyrs, Gül
    also called for peace. "We hope that everyone understands that peace
    is precious. When needed, the Turkish nation went to war, however,
    when needed, it never avoided peace as well. That's why we continue
    to spread peace in our neighborhood," he said.

    Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ertuðrul Apakan as well as the
    relatives of martyred diplomats and ministry staff attended the
    ceremony.
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