06 05 11- Turkey has recalled its ambassadors to Canada

Armenian hardliners are getting what they wantIlnur Cevik
ilnurcevik@yahoo.com =/FONT> 10 May 2006

Turkey has recalled its ambassadors to Canada and =rance because of the negative attitude in those countries towards =urkey’s denials that Armenians living in Turkey early last century were =ubjected to genocide ...

The French not only acknowledge that there =as a genocide but they've also moved to legislate a ban on disputing =uch an event. That means if a Turk makes statements in France denying =hat such a genocide took place they could be sent to prison.

The =anadian prime minister, on the other hand, has acknowledged that the =ttoman Turks were involved in genocide against Armenians living in the eastern =egions of their territory.

Turks have spent decades categorically =enying such a genocide took place. They stress that the Armenians =ollaborated with the invading Russians in the First World War and the Ottoman administration was forced to evacuate them by force to other parts =f the empire, especially to Ottoman territory in the Middle East. =owever Turks do acknowledge that in the process Armenians perished due to =llness and attacks from bandits. But Turks also say that many Turks who lived =n the eastern provinces were also murdered by Armenian =unmen.

Turkey has offered several times to set up a joint commission of impartial =istorians to study the Ottoman files and get to the bottom of the issue. =owever the Armenians have rejected this. Armenian hardliners, especially =hose in the diaspora, have been insistent on trying to hurt Turkey as much as possible.

First they organized and financed a terrorist =roup the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) that =illed Turkish diplomats and their families. The Western powers didn't =ouch them until ASALA made the mistake of unleashing its terrorist =ctivities at Orly Airport's Turkish Airlines counter killing French citizens as =ell as other tourists. Western intelligence officials then clamped down =n ASALA ...

But Armenian hardliners continued their quest against =urkey and the Turks. They helped Kurdish separatists to harm Turkey, =orgetting that most of the hordes who murdered Armenian families as they =ere being evacuated from the east were, in fact, comprised of Kurdish bandits.

The Armenians also used politicians in many =estern countries against Turkey, sponsoring anti-Turkish resolutions in =heir parliaments. There are strong and influential Armenian groups all =ver Europe and north America. Politicians seeking their votes try to =ppease them.

The Swiss have already decided that denying the =o-called Armenian genocide is a crime. The parliaments of other countries =ave already acknowledged the genocide claims.

So each time a =oreign country does something to please the Armenians Turkey hits back =ith the weapon of threatening to severe ties with them. But this is =xactly what the Armenian hardliners want. Every time we create a chill in our =ies with France, Canada or the U.S. the Armenians rejoice. We should =rotest and try to educate the public in these countries through lobbies =nd good public relations but we should not take these meaningless actions, =hat only hurt our international relations and push us into =solation.










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