Turkey urges European Parliament to look into own history before dealing with issue of Armenian Genocide

As European Parlaiment passes a resolution on the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, the Foreign Ministry of Turkey publishes a statement saying the European Parliament's decision “does not match historical facts and Turkey does not take this resolution seriously.”

“This aspiration resulted in a preposterous text of resolution dated 15 April 2015 which literally repeats the anti-Turkish clichés of the Armenian propaganda,” the ministry said.

The statement also said that the European Parliament “repeated the exact mistake it made in the past, incompatible with international law and exceeding its competence,” recalling another resolution passed by the parliament in 1987.  “We do not take seriously those who adopted this resolution by mutilating history and law,” the Turkish ministry said in the statement.

Recalling the basic principles of the EU, the Ministry wishes success to the politicians who supported the resolution and are “feeding on hatred, revenge and the culture of conflict."

The ministry called the resolution “one-sided” saying it has the potential to further harm relations between Turkey and the EU and is not conducive to normalizing the relations of Turkey and Armenia.

According to the statement, Turkey “has fulfilled its duty of memory with regard to the 1915 events,” and hopes that “Armenia will also achieve a similar level of maturity as soon as possible.”

The Turkish ministry urged the European Parliament to “encounter their own past and remember especially their roles and responsibilities in the most abhorrent calamities of humanity such as World War I and World War II, well before dealing with the 1915 issue.”

Volkan Bozkır, Turkey's Minister for EU Affairs, has confirmed that Turkey does not take this resolution seriously. He stated that the parliament's job is not to rewrite history and that calling the 1915 events “genocide” is nothing but slander.

He blamed the European Parliament for discrimination as it “ignores the atrocities that Turks and Muslims faced during the WWI.”  Bozkir recommended the parliamentarians not to rewrite history, but seek realistic and strong ways to settle the problems.  

Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Yalçın Akdoğan also posted a tweet calling on EP “to give up historical nonsense and adopt a stance on today's matters."

As EAD reported earlier, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on April 15 urging all EU member states and Turkey to recognize the events of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire as the Armenian genocide.   The resolution says Turkey should “start a genuinely transparent public debate with a view to recognizing the Genocide.” The European Parliament declared April 24 as Remembrance Day for Genocide of Armenia.