OVER 90 PCT OF TURKS DENY GENOCIDE: POLL

The Daily Star, Lebanon
Jan 14 2015

Agence France Presse

ANKARA: Less than 10 percent of Turks believe their government should
recognize the mass killings of Armenians in World War I as genocide,
according to a survey published Tuesday.

On the 100th anniversary of the tragedy this year, the poll revealed
that only 9.1 percent of those questioned believe Ankara should
apologize for the deaths during Ottoman rule in 1915 and describe
them as genocide.

Another 9.1 percent were in favor of an apology without admitting
to genocide.

Turkey rejects calls to recognize the killings as genocide, saying
up to 500,000 Armenians died in fighting and of starvation after
Armenians sided with invading Russian troops. It claims a comparable
number of Turks were also killed.

Last year, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered an unprecedented
expression of condolence for the massacres when he was prime minister
but this did little to satisfy Armenians, who want the deaths of an
estimated 1.5 million people recognized as genocide.

The survey, which was carried out between November and December by
the Istanbul-based Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies,
was based on responses from 1,508 people.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress