309) Turkish historian urges thorough debate on Armenian allegations / Bagis appeals to US congressmen against Armenian steps

 

 

  ANK - Turkish Daily News

  2005-07-18 Monday

 

  A Turkish deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has sent a letter to almost 200 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, criticizing two recent resolutions presented to the legislative body, one urging the U.S. administration to recognize the so-called Armenian genocide and the other recommending pressuring Turkey to open its border with Armenia.

 

  Egemen Bağış, who is also the chairman of the Turkish-U.S. Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group of the Turkish Parliament, referred to the two similar draft resolutions submitted by some members of the U.S. Congress on June 14 and June 29 and hoped the U.S. Congress would not support the unbiased claims set out in the resolutions.

 

  This has caused great disappointment and concern in Turkey, Bağış said in the letter. The draft resolutions as they stand contain misinformation, baseless allegations and false accusations against my country.

 

  He said the two resolutions misrepresented a controversial chapter of Turkish-Armenian relations at a time when the government led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was taking steps towards neighboring Armenia.

 

  The events of 1915 cannot be labeled as genocide', he said. Accusing a nation of genocide is a very serious act. Any such act comes with a responsibility to prove such an accusation and base it on historical facts and international legality. We do not want the U.S. Congress to make a judgment based on one-sided allegations.  Bağış reiterated Erdoğan's remarks that history is a discipline that should be left to the historians and emphasized that in order to shed light on the controversial historic issue, the Turkish government had opened all its archives to researchers. 

 

  The adoption of these resolutions would not facilitate our efforts to improve Turkish-Armenian relations since the Armenian government and diaspora will feel further encouraged to purse the policy of making political gains on this disputed period of history, he added.

 

 

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 Turkish historian urges thorough debate on Armenian allegations:

 

  ANK - Turkish Daily News

Saturday, July 16, 2005 

 

  All documents regarding the alleged Armenian genocide should be put on the table, a Turkish historian said in an interview with German daily Die Welt.

 

  Professor Hikmet Özdemir, head of the Armenian research desk at the Turkish Historical Society, said the Armenian diaspora has convinced the entire world with its efforts to win international recognition for the alleged genocide at the hands of the late Ottoman Empire and warned this prejudice might lead to serious political results that would go against Turkey.

 

  “We should, therefore, clarify the issue and thoroughly debate it at international platforms,â€� Özdemir was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency. “We opened our archives and called on all parties to put their documents on the table.â€�