Turkish Parliamentarians Forcefully Disagree with US Congress
WASHINGTON (AP) – The speaker of Turkey’s parliament, Bulent Arinc,
said Thursday that the U.S. Congress should avoid allowing political
considerations affect historical judgments – implicitly urging
lawmakers not to recognize the World War I-era killings of Armenians
as genocide. “We find it wrong that the U.S. Congress should be
forced into a position of passing judgment on historical issues,”
Arinc said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International
Studies, a Washington think tank. Armenia accuses Turkey of genocide
in the killings of up to 1.5 million of its people between 1915 and
1923 as part of a campaign to force them out of eastern Turkey. Turkey
denies this. Several countries have declared the killings a genocide
and there have been calls from Armenians worldwide for the
U.S. Congress to do the same. Arinc said it was important to oppose
“such narrow-minded attempts.” He said Turkey is ready to establish
an independent commission to investigate the killings. Arinc offered
a generally upbeat view of U.S.-Turkey relations. “What unites us is
far more pronounced than what may divide us,” he said.
05/26/05 19:16 EDT