Turkey ready to face history, says parliament speaker
Cemil Cicek says Turkey was ready to face historical records involving 1915 events.
MOSCOW
Turkey’s Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek said Wednesday that Turkey was ready to face history, in reference to the 1915 events.
“Turkey is ready to face history,” said Cicek during an official visit to Moscow.
He added that Turkey had wanted the truth of the 1915 events to be revealed and the country was ready to cooperate with those who would contribute to this process.
“We share the pain of WWI, yet to leave others’ pain aside and say: ‘Only Armenians suffered’ is an extremely exploitative approach,” Cicek said, adding that more than 20 million people lost their lives during WWI.
He emphasized that “genocide” had a specific legal definition and “it was illegal and immoral to accuse a society of genocide without proof.”
A joint draft resolution to be voted on by the European Parliament on Wednesday states that it is important to keep “alive the memories of the past … since there can be no reconciliation without truth and remembrance.”
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.
Unofficial delegation to Crimea
Cicek said that sending an unofficial delegation from Turkey to Crimea would be very beneficial.
“It would help clear up what is really happening in Crimea,” stated Cicek, adding that not sending a delegation would only increase the number of questions and worries.
A referendum on the status of Crimea was held on March 16, 2014 and a majority of the Crimean population voted to become part of the Russian Federation.
The U.S. and the EU denounced the referendum as illegitimate, as the region was occupied by Russian soldiers at the time.
