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ANKARA: Turkey Recalls Ambassador To Austria Over Parliament's Armen

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  • ANKARA: Turkey Recalls Ambassador To Austria Over Parliament's Armen

    TURKEY RECALLS AMBASSADOR TO AUSTRIA OVER PARLIAMENT'S ARMENIA DECLARATION

    Daily Sabah
    April 22 2015

    DAILY SABAH
    ISTANBUL

    Turkey recalled its ambassador to Vienna Hasan GöguÅ~_ back to Ankara
    for consultations on Tuesday, after the Austrian Parliament issued a
    declaration that labels the Armenian killings during World War I as
    'genocide'.

    Turkish Foreign Ministry also released a statement regarding the
    issue and blamed the Austrian Parliament for disrupting the historical
    and judicial facts and said that Turkey will not forget the baseless
    claims of the Austrian Parliament.

    "While the joint declaration issued by the Austrian Parliament
    emphasizes the sufferings of the Christians and does not even mention
    the Muslim people who had lost their lives in World War I, it has
    become just another example of discrimination based on religions." the
    statement read.

    The statement reiterated Turkey's rejection against the 'genocide'
    claims and added that Austrian Parliament's selective and one-sided
    approach over the 1915 events has potential to harm the relations
    between the two countries.

    Turkey and Armenia disagree on what happened during the events
    between 1915 and 1923, with Armenia saying that 1.5 million people
    were deliberately killed, and Turkey saying the deaths were a result
    of deportations and civil strife.

    Turkish-Armenian relations have remained strained for decades due to
    Armenia's constant demand for Turkey to officially accept the Armenian
    claims of "genocide." Tensions peaked in 1993 when Turkey closed its
    borders with Armenia in reaction to the war in Nagorno-Karabakh and
    in support of its close ally Azerbaijan.

    Nevertheless, last year President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made attempts to
    thaw tensions between the two countries by issuing a message ahead of
    the 99th anniversary of the 1915 incidents. In an unprecedented move,
    Prime Minister Erdogan extended condolences to the grandchildren of
    the Armenians who lost their lives in the 1915 events.

    However Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, in a purported refusal to
    reconcile with Turkey, said he had withdrawn the peace accords with
    Turkey from parliament.

    The two countries' foreign ministers at the time, Ahmet Davutoglu and
    Eduard Nalbandian, had signed protocols to establish diplomatic ties
    between their respective countries in 2009 in Switzerland. Mediated
    by the U.S., the protocol had presupposed the opening of the border
    between Turkey and Armenia, but it failed to be ratified.

    Following the incident, Erdogan complained that Armenia had failed to
    reciprocate Turkish peace efforts, but said that Ankara will still
    pursue a settlement with Armenia. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Tanju
    Bilgic also said, "Turkey will remain committed to the normalization
    process it pursues as the main purpose of the protocols."

    http://www.dailysabah.com/politics/2015/04/22/turkey-recalls-ambassador-to-austria-over-parliaments-armenia-declaration




    From: A. Papazian
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