339) Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres' Statement On So-Called Armenian Genocide

Peres: Armenian allegations are meaningless

• On the eve of his visit to Turkey, Israeli Foreign Minister Peres says Armenian allegations are 'meaningless' and there is no similarity between the Holocaust and Armenian incidents

Ankara - Turkish Daily News, 10 April 2001 . .

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres who started his one-day official visit to Turkey today, has stressed that the Armenian allegations of genocide was meaningless. Supporting Turkey's thesis that history should be dealt with by historians over the Armenian issue, Peres said:"We reject attempts to create a similarity between the Holocaust and the Armenian allegations. Nothing similar to the Holocaust occurred. It is a tragedy what the Armenians went through but not a genocide."

In an exclusive interview to the Anatolia news agency, Peres said Israel should not determine a historical or philosophical position on the Armenian issue but added: "If we have to determine a position, it should be done with great care not to distort the historical realities. "

Speaking from Tel-Aviv on the eve of his visit to Turkey, Peres praised Turkey's contributions to the peace process and characterized Turco-Israeli relations as "extremely good." Indicating that Turkey and Israel are in the same boat, Peres said he did not think Intifadah would negatively affect bilateral relations between Turkey and Israel.

http://www.turkishdailynews.com/old_editions/04_10_01/for.htm#f6