Turkey intensifies counter-attack against genocide claims

Having decided to send three separate parliamentary delegations to the US for lobbying against the Armenian genocide resolution, to be discussed in the House of Representative in April, the Turkish parliament has sponsored the preparation of a booklet instead of a comprehensive book so that it be can easily read.

Published under the guidance of Egemen Bağış, chairman of the Turkish-American Interparliamentary Friendship Group, and Professor Aziz Akgül, Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Diyarbakır deputy, the evidentiary documents were obtained from the Turkish History Institute.

The first four pages state the historic events between 1915 and 1918 cannot be considered as genocide while 14 pages contain documents refuting Armenian genocide claims.

Turkey has adamantly denied claims by scholars that its predecessor state, the Ottoman government, caused the Armenian deaths in a genocide. The Turkish government has said Armenians were killed or displaced in civil unrest during the disarray surrounding the empire's collapse.

Arguing that the resolution will not be accepted in the House of Representatives, Bağış said, "In my opinion, the bill will not pass. I don't think the US will make such a big mistake. Common sense will eventually rule. The US will not be trapped by the Armenian diaspora."

The US administration has opposed previous attempts by members of Congress to pass resolutions recognizing the killings of Armenians as an organized genocide. But US President George Bush will have to persuade the new Democrat-controlled Congress, which does not need presidential approval for such a resolution. The resolution was introduced on Jan. 30 at the US Congress, and currently has 170 co-sponsors.

Akgül noted that the idea of publishing a booklet against the Armenian claims came at his meetings with some of the US congressmen. He said, "During the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and OECD meetings, I was with two US representatives. In connection with the bill, they confessed that virtually all representatives did not have even the simplest historic facts concerning the issue."

Meanwhile, a six-person Turkish parliamentary delegation carried on meetings at the US House of Representatives. The delegation, which consists of four members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and two deputies from the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), had meetings with six representatives from both the Democratic and the Republican parties in Congress.