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ISTANBUL: WWI inflicted pain on everyone, Davutoglu says

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  • ISTANBUL: WWI inflicted pain on everyone, Davutoglu says

    Hurriyet, Turkey
    Dec 30 2011

    WWI inflicted pain on everyone, DavutoÄ?lu says

    Friday, 30 December 2011

    DavutoÄ?lu says not only Armenians but also Turks suffered during World
    War I and calls on other nations that suffered at that time to share
    and respect it.

    Foreign Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu has called on Armenians and other
    nations who lived under Ottoman rule to share the pain suffered during
    World War I but also show respect to Turkish suffering.

    Speaking at a conference in Edirne yesterday, DavutoÄ?lu said French
    politicians `are trying to build a new history on the suffering of
    others.

    `Every nation thinks its suffering is unique; however, we can
    understand the suffering of all nations because we suffered the most,'
    the minister told the conference at Trakya University titled `From
    Balkan War to Balkan Peace: Turkish Foreign Policy on its 100th
    Anniversary.'

    `We respect our neighbors with whom we lived together for 10
    centuries. We invite them to share our common pains on condition they
    respect ours,' he said. He also pointed to the huge loss of life Turks
    suffered during the dissolution years of the Ottoman Empire when it
    was invaded by Western powers. `To expect people to forget their own
    pain and to declare a nation guilty by birth without even giving it
    the right to self-defense is unacceptable,' the minister said. `A
    common history does not mean a history with one-sided suffering that
    forgets the suffering of another nation.'

    Referring to the French bill criminalizing the denial of Armenian
    `genocide,' DavutoÄ?lu called on the French Senate, which is the next
    legislative stage for the bill, `not to make imperialist plans on the
    suffering of others.'

    He pointed to the example of the Republic of Turkey founder Mustafa
    Kemal Atatürk, who embarked on a mission of reconciliation with Greece
    after he led the Turkish victory against invading Greek troops during
    the Turkish War of Independence.

    `He did not build a nation upon hostility. He could have incited his
    people as the founder of a new nation state, and could have made his
    nation keep its pain alive. However, he did not do so but instead
    extended his hand to [Greek leader] Venizelos, because a leader like
    Atatürk was the outcome of a 10 century blend,' DavutoÄ?lu said.

    `I am not saying it only for [French President Nicolas] Sarkozy.
    French leaders have progressed by making other nations suffer, and now
    they are trying to build a new history on the suffering of others,' he
    said.

    In further remarks, DavutoÄ?lu urged the European Union to lift visa
    restrictions for trips between Balkan cities and Turkey. `Those who
    put visa barriers between Turkey and Europe are the ones who stand in
    the way of the normalization of history,' DavutoÄ?lu said. He charged
    that some countries were `trying to build a wall between Edirne and
    Skopje,' but `one day that wall will collapse.'

    Friday, 30 December 2011

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