TURKISH ENVOY REJECTS US PAPER EDITORIAL ON ARMENIAN "GENOCIDE"
Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
April 17 2007
New York, 17 April: "Turkey has nothing to cover up. We are ready and
willing to face the history. We expect the same from the Armenian
side," Baki Ilkin, Turkish permanent representative to the United
Nations, said on Tuesday [17 April].
In response to an article in the New York Times daily advocating
so-called Armenian genocide, Ilkin said, "The editorial on ‘Turkey
and the United Nations’ cover-up’ which was published on 13 April
reflects only the Armenian version of the events of 1915. There
is no explanation as to how and why these sad events took place in
eastern Anatolia. There is also no reference to those Turks who were
mass-murdered by Armenian bands during that time. Those tragic events
took place in time of war, and both populations suffered extensively."
"As such, describing these events as ‘genocide’ is unacceptable.
Indeed, if it had been a ‘genocide’, how was it possible for the
Armenians living in other parts of the Ottoman Empire to survive? In
fact, there is still a large Armenian Turkish minority in Istanbul
that enriches our cultural diversity," he stressed.
Ilkin noted, "If the Armenian authorities are certain of their
accusations, then they should be able to accept Turkey’s proposal to
set up a joint historians’ commission, including those from third
countries, to examine all the available documents and to reach a
public decision on what really happened."
"Turkey has nothing to cover up. We are ready and willing to face the
history. We expect the same from the Armenian side," Ilkin concluded.