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ANKARA: Ankara raps EP for politicizing 'genocide' issue

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  • ANKARA: Ankara raps EP for politicizing 'genocide' issue

    Turkish Daily News
    Sept 30 2005

    Ankara raps EP for politicizing 'genocide' issue
    Friday, September 30, 2005

    Foreign Ministry says the controversial allegations of Armenian
    genocide must be assessed by historians

    ANKARA - Turkish Daily News


    Turkey criticized the European Parliament yesterday for demanding
    recognition of an alleged genocide against Armenians towards the end
    of the Ottoman Empire as a condition for membership in the European
    Union, a charge Turkey vehemently denies.

    Foreign Ministry spokesman Namık Tan said a resolution the EU
    assembly adopted on Wednesday `brought the alleged Armenian genocide
    onto the European Parliament agenda once again' and added: `We would
    like to bring to mind once again that discussion of the matter at
    political platforms has been of no benefit to anyone.'

    European Parliament resolutions are not binding, and none of the EU
    decisions on Turkey has cited recognition of the alleged genocide as
    a requisite for membership. However, the assembly's resolution came
    amid sour ties between Turkey and the EU over a lingering dispute
    over terms of a negotiating mandate and further exacerbated the
    tension days before planned opening of accession talks on Oct. 3.

    The resolution, which also demanded that Turkey recognize the Greek
    Cypriot administration and open its ports and airports to traffic
    from Greek Cyprus, said the Turkish authorities have not complied
    with demands regarding recognition of the alleged genocide, as
    expressed by the European Parliament in its resolution in June 1987.

    Tan responded by noting that an appeal to the European Court of
    First Instance challenging Turkey's candidacy status because of its
    refusal to recognize the alleged genocide had been turned down.

    The appeal to get the candidacy status cancelled was made to the
    court in 2003, and applicants cited the European Parliament's 1987
    resolution to justify their claims. The court, however, turned down
    the application, saying European Parliament resolutions are
    political, not legal documents.

    `Turkey has always said disputed eras of history must be evaluated
    by historians and opened its archives to researchers,' Tan said.



    Bağış: Resolution is a trap:

    The European Parliament resolution is being heavily criticized in
    Turkey, where many denounced the move as indicative of opposition to
    Turkey because it is Muslim, culturally different and relatively
    poor.

    `These are traps, we should not bother ourselves too much on these
    things,' said Egemen Bağış, a deputy from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
    Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AKP).

    `The European Parliament's decision is yet another obstacle put
    before Turkey as we near Oct. 3. It is one of the attempts to weaken
    the enthusiasm of the Turkish people concerning the EU process,'
    Bağış told the Anatolia news agency.



    Armenia pleased:

    In Yerevan, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian welcomed the
    European Parliament demand for Turkey to recognize the alleged
    genocide as `positive and natural' and said Ankara must resolve its
    problems with neighboring countries if it wanted to join the EU.

    He said Turkey's EU process would help Turkey-Armenia relations to
    normalize and claimed that the issue of opening the closed border
    gate would also be raised during Turkey's accession negotiations with
    the EU.
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