EuropaWorld 24/11/2000 Turkey should Acknowledge Armenian Genocide says European Parliament

Armenia is a mountainous country which today lies on Turkey’s eastern border, marking the end of the high Anatolian plateau which, beyond Armenia, drops down into the valley of the Kür, the river that slices between Asia Minor and the Caucasus mountains to the North East. Here in these Armenian hills, in the six years between 1915 and 1923, an estimated 1.5 million men, women and children died, slaughtered, it is commonly held, by Turkish forces during the break up of the Ottoman
Empire, in what remains a serious genocide.

Modern Turkey is deeply embarrassed at this episode and indeed denies it altogether merely saying that both sides suffered heavy losses during the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. The reluctance of the Turkish government to dissent from this view was indicated last week when the European Parliament called on Turkey – as part of the general preparations for
accession to the European Union – to make a clean breast of what happened eighty years ago. Turkey was also called upon to give more support to the minorities within its borders, especially to the Armenians. "The European Parliament has no right to call on our government or parliament on this issue ... This kind of irresponsible behaviour is of the sort that will shake relations between Turkey and the European Union, the Turkish Prime Minister is reported to have responded.

Back to home page

Use browser back button to view more articles in this category