Turkey will receive any decision from the European Parliament over the 1915 events with indifference, as the parliament prepares to vote on a draft resolution which recognizes the events as a “genocide”
Addressing the media ahead of his departure for Kazakhstan, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: “Whichever decision the European Parliament takes regarding the 1915 events, it goes in one ear and out the other,” APA reports quoting Anadolu Agency
The European Parliament first recognized the 1915 events as a “genocide” in a 1987 resolution, which the parliament is set to recall in a vote on Wednesday — the centenary of the 1915 events.
Erdogan said that Turkey had no shadow of “genocide” in its past. “Armenia and the countries that are opening their doors to them should know that Turkey hosts 100,000 Armenians. Does Turkey have any resentment towards Armenians or do our citizens show any negative treatment towards them?” he asked.
He said that Turkey was also hosting Armenians who fled their countries of residence and were now living freely here, able to practice their religion without any hinderance.
He also mentioned efforts of the Turkish state to restore an Armenian Orthodox Church in eastern Van province and asked would a country that took such steps be against Aremenias. “I do not understand such a stance against a country that does these (moves),” he said.
He said that it was not possible for Turkey to call the alleged killings of Armenians in 1915 as a “genocide” and described that part of history as a “sin and a crime” against Armenians.
The European Parliament has “destroyed its credibility” by recognizing the deaths of Armenians in 1915 as genocide, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan said on Wednesday. Akdogan was reacting to the recall of a 1987 resolution by the parliament in Brussels that referred to the events of 1915 as genocide.
Turkey accepts that many Armenians lost their lives during mass relocations after a portion of the Armenian population sided against the Ottoman Empire during World War I but refutes claims that it was genocide.
“With its latest decision that has no validity or effect, the European Parliament has destroyed its credibility,” Akdogan wrote on his official Twitter account on Wednesday evening. He added: “You cannot handle serious matters by talking idly.”
Akdogan called on the parliament to “quit using empty historical rhetoric and take a stance on more current issues if it really has a power and vision.”
Minister for EU Affairs Volkan Bozkır said that in response to the good intentions of Turkey, theEuropean Parliament made history to the instrument of policy. According to him, the decision does not reflect the reality and is of no importance for Turkey and the Turkish people: “The decision of the European Parliament, bulges Armenian pain, without noticing tragedies of Turks and Muslims killed in the I World War. Events of 1915 are used as a pretext for political struggle, which is unacceptable. “
Volkan Bozkır also recalled appeals to investigate the events of 1915 Commission on historical issues: “In the year 2009 we signed with Armenia protocols that have not been taken off the agenda. Expression of “genocide”, which operates the European Parliament is a legal concept. Presenting events of 1915 as genocide without a court verdict is nothing other than slander.
On April 15, the European Parliament adopted a resolution to commemorate “the centenary of the so-called Armenian genocide” The 1915 events took place during World War I when a portion of the Armenian population living in the Ottoman Empire sided with the invading Russians and revolted against the empire.
The Ottoman Empire relocated Armenians in eastern Anatolia following the revolts and there were Armenian casualties during the process.
Pope Francis said Sunday that “the first genocide of the 20th century” had struck Armenians, which led Turkey to recall its ambassador to the Vatican and also to summon the Vatican’s envoy in Ankara.
/Apa/
