Wednesday, April 24 2024 16:31

ArmInfo. The Turkish Foreign Ministry continues its policy of denying the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire.

Thus, in a statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry in connection with the 109th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, it is noted that Ankara rejects "the one-sided statements about the events of 1915 that have been made to satisfy certain radical circles.."

At the same time, the Turkish Foreign Ministry cynically stated that these statements allegedly "distort the historical facts, are also contrary to international law."

 

"The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has clearly underlined that the events of 1915 are a legitimate subject of debate.

These biased and partial statements about history undermine the reconciliation efforts between the two communities, and encourage radical groups to commit hate crimes.

We call on all parties to support our proposal for a Joint Historical Commission and the normalisation process that has been initiated with Armenia," the Turkish Foreign Ministry noted, continuing its policy of an obvious historical fact.

Notably, renunciation of our own historical memory and the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide is one of the key preconditions that Turkey presents to Armenia regarding the normalization of bilateral relations.

109 years ago, Turkiye  perpetrated the Genocide of the Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire.  Over 1.5 million Armenians were massacred based on their nationality. The Armenian genocide is recognized and condemned by many countries of the world and influential international organizations. The parliament of Uruguay was the first to officially condemn the massacres of Armenians (1965). The extermination of the Armenians was officially recognized as genocide (according to international law[177]) and also condemned by France (1998, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2012, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland - National Council (lower house of parliament), Sweden, Russia (1995), Poland , Lebanon (2000), Italy, Lithuania, Greece, Slovakia, Cyprus, Argentina (2 laws, 5 resolutions), Venezuela, Chile, Canada (1996, 2002, 2004), Vatican, Bolivia (2014), Austria (2015), Luxembourg (2015), Brazil (2015), Paraguay (2015), Germany (2016), Czech Republic (2017), Portugal (2019), USA (in 35 states by law), Latvia.  The Armenian Genocide was recognized by the European Parliament (1987, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2015), the parliamentary coalition of South American countries (Mercosur), the UN Subcommission on the Prevention of Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities, the Parliament of Latin America (2015). Recognition of the Armenian genocide is not officially a prerequisite for Turkey's entry into the EU, but some authors believe that Turkey will have to do so on the path to EU membership.

The Turkish Republic spends heavily on PR denial campaigns and donates to universities that provide credibility to the Turkish position. Whenever parliaments or governments of different states discuss the recognition of genocide, Turkey threatens them with diplomatic and trade sanctions and repression of its own minorities.  In order to destroy traces of the physical presence of Armenians in Turkey, monuments of Armenian architecture in the country are systematically destroyed.

Deniers' arguments are usually modifications of one of the following statements: the massacre of Armenians never happened in the Ottoman Empire; the death of Armenians occurred due to negligence from hunger and disease during their expulsion from the combat zone; there was no deliberate policy on the part of the Young Turks to exterminate the Armenians; The death of the Armenians was a consequence of the civil war in the Ottoman Empire, which also killed many Turks.