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Turkey criticizes US Democratic presidential hopefuls for Armenian

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  • Turkey criticizes US Democratic presidential hopefuls for Armenian

    PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung), Austria
    Jan 28 2008


    Turkey criticizes US Democratic presidential hopefuls for Armenian
    genocide comments

    2008-01-28 17:03:44 -


    ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey has criticized U.S. Democratic
    presidential hopefuls for backing Armenian views that a century-old
    mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks constituted a
    genocide.
    The Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement over the weekend
    that remarks by Democratic presidential candidates «for the sake of
    an internal party struggle, offends
    the Turkish nation.» The statement did not name specific candidates.
    Barack Obama issued a statement urging Turkey to acknowledge the 1915
    killings of Armenians as genocide, saying: «As a U.S. senator, I have
    stood with the Armenian American community in calling for Turkey's
    acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide.» The statement, dated Jan.
    19, was posted on his campaign Web site.
    Armenia says some 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman
    Empire in a genocidal campaign during World War I. Turkey says the
    casualty figures are inflated, and that the killings occurred at a
    time of civil unrest and were not part of a systematic campaign to
    eliminate the Armenian minority of the Turkish-ruled empire.
    The Armenian National Committee of America, an advocacy group, said
    another Democratic candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton, had vowed
    support for U.S. recognition of the killings as a «genocide.
    The group posted a statement on its Web site that it said had come
    from Clinton, but her campaign office could not immediately confirm
    that.
    In the unconfirmed statement, Clinton is quoted as saying she
    believed «the horrible events perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire
    against Armenians constitute a clear case of genocide.

    In October, Turkey protested to Washington over a House committee
    vote that labeled the deaths a genocide. Despite appeals by U.S.
    President George W. Bush and top Turkish leadership, the House
    Foreign Affairs Committee passed the genocide bill.
    A similar vote by the French Assembly to declare the killings a
    genocide sparked fury among the Turkish public, and prompted the
    Turkish government to cancel all military contracts with France, one
    of its key arms supplier.
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