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Has Erdogan altered his announcements on the Armenian Genocide?

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  • Has Erdogan altered his announcements on the Armenian Genocide?

    Has Erdogan altered his announcements on the Armenian Genocide?
    30.05.2009 14:29 GMT+04:00

    /PanARMENIAN.Net/ Erdogan Criticizes Turkey's Past and Accuses the
    Kemalists of Ethnic Cleansing
    On May 23 2009, during a congress of Turkey's ruling Party (Justice
    and Development Party) in Duzce, Eastern Turkey, Prime Minister Recep
    Tayyip Erdogan made an important announcement. He criticized Turkish
    nationalism and called the Kemalist foundation of the Republic of
    Turkey `fascist' because of the ethnic cleansing of the Armenian and
    Greek minorities. Erdogan said, `For many years Turkey has been
    ethnically cleansed of its minorities because of their cultural and
    ethnic difference vis-à-vis the Turkish identity. This was the result
    of fascism and we as the Justice and Development Party have been
    trapped in this wrong political approach and have committed similar
    errors'.
    The President of the Armenian National Committee of Canada, Dr. Girair
    Basmadjian considers Erdogan's announcement as an improvement in the
    domestic politics of Turkey after a continuous denialist politics
    adopted by the deep state. `Since the creation of modern Turkey,
    successive governments have adopted a policy of Turkification and have
    mistreated its minorities. Erdogan's announcement is canceled the
    first made by a Prime Minister accepting Turkey's past mistakes and
    may be considered as a first step for an eventual apology to the
    Armenian population for its extermination by the Ottoman government in
    1915. However we should not be too optimistic because the current
    Turkish government and academia includes numerous influential
    `fascists' and it is not clear if Erdogan's real intent is to oppose
    them. Only a few months ago Professor Turkaya Ataov delivered a
    `fascist' speech calling the West racist and denying the Armenian
    Genocide'.
    Finally, the Turkish public is faced with an unprecedented choice to
    decide which version of history leads to its future, is it the version
    adopted by the deep state, people like Ataov and prosecutors who deny
    the events of 1915 and try to mislead their own people by penalizing
    the open discussion of the Armenian Genocide with the adoption of
    article 301 of the penal code? Or the true version that Erdogan
    referred to that leads to a peaceful coexistence with neighbors and
    regional actors and brings Turkey closer to democratic Europe? Only
    time will show if the true version will finally succeed to lead Turkey
    to European integration, however if the version adopted by the deep
    state prevails, Turkey risks its isolation in the eyes of Europe and
    the international community.
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