Hurriyet English
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 16, 2008 17:22
Turkey's top business association has released a report on an Armenian bill regarding the incidents of 1915, which was adopted last year by the Committee on Foreign Relations of the U.S. House of Representatives but was turned down by the general assembly.
The report on , drawn up by researcher and specialist in law David Saltzman for the Turkish Industrialists'Â and Businessmen's Association (TUSIAD), was presented on Thursday at a Washington conference on Turkish-U.S. relations.
In the report, TUSIAD declared its will to form a platform in which the incidents experienced by Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire during World War I can be discussed.
The report, "U.S. House of Representatives Resolution 106: Legal and Factual Deficiencies," said that there had never been a legal opinion that can justify the 1915 incidents as "genocide," and those who contend the allegations had never brought them before an international court.
"The global public opinion is focused on this one-sided view. And the rejection to acknowledge facts and the failure to consider the historical background of the incidents help this view attain a continuity," the report said.
Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5 million of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in 1915. The Armenian diaspora has lately increased its organized activities throughout the world for the acknowledgment of their unfounded allegations in regard to the incidents of 1915 as "genocide" by national and local parliaments.Â
Turkey rejects the claims, saying that 300,000 Armenians along with at least as many Turks died in civil strife that emerged when the Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia.
Turkey is of the view that parliaments and other political institutions are not the appropriate forums to debate and pass judgment on disputed periods of history. Past events and controversial periods of history should be left to historians for their dispassionate study and evaluation.
In 2005, Turkey officially proposed the establishment of a joint commission comprised of historians and other experts from both sides to study the events of 1915, utilizing not only Turkish and Armenian archives, but also those of relevant third-party countries and to share their findings with the public. Armenia has not responded positively to this initiative, as yet.   Â
Photo: DHAÂ
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