ANKARA: Turkish PM Says Armenians Living In Turkey Proves There Was

TURKISH PM SAYS ARMENIANS LIVING IN TURKEY PROVES THERE WAS NO “GENOCIDE”

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
April 30 2014

ISTANBUL

Only a week after expressing condolences for the 1915 deportation
and killings of Armenians, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has
said the small Armenian community still living in Turkey was proof
that there was no genocide in the past.

Speaking in an interview with Charlie Rose from PBS, Erdogan said
what happened in 1915 could not be described as a “genocide.”

“This is not possible. Because if there were a genocide, [there would
not be] Armenians still living in Turkey,” Erdogan said, reiterating
that Ankara was ready to open its historical archives.

“We see genocide as a crime against humanity. We will never shut our
eyes to it. We are ready to open our archives. Armenia and other third
party countries should do it too,” he said, adding if documents prove
it, then Turkey would apologize.

“These events did not happen under the Turkish Republic, but the
Ottoman Empire. If the documents show it, then we will not avoid
apologizing and accepting the consequences,” he said.

In an unexpected statement issued April 23, Erdogan had stressed the
common pain endured by the two peoples, expressing condolences for
the descendants of the mass killings in 1915.

“The incidents of World War I are our shared pain. To evaluate this
painful period of history through a perspective of just memory is a
humane and scholarly responsibility,” his statement said.

The remarks had a widely positive response, with Washington describing
them as “historic” and many commentators noting that they constituted
a major step for confronting the past.

April/29/2014

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress