ANKARA
Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek has accused foreign countries of using the Armenian "genocide" issue as a tool to harm Turkey.
Addressing a press conference at a symposium titled “Imperialism and the Armenian Issue” in Ankara Saturday, Cicek said that the countries who had been backing terrorism in Turkey for years were the same countries who now supported the Armenian "genocide" issue.
"We have to know who they are. If we cannot estimate who are those countries after all those pains and experience, then it is a shame for us," he said.
Cicek said the Turkish government approached at least 112 countries and sent more than 40 letters to parliaments of various countries to give the Turkish point of view about the 1915 events.
"But the western world insistently refuses to learn the truth and still continuing its hypocrisy," he said.
He added that the foreign countries were using the 1915 incidents as a tool to harm Turkey. "We need to see that it is not just the Armenian issue. It is a problem standing in front of the Turkish government. We cannot ignore it, on the contrary, we have to lay too much stress on it to reveal the truth," he said.
Criticizing Wednesday’s European Parliament resolution that described the 1915 events affecting Armenians as “genocide,” Cicek said: "The European Parliament has made an unfair and biased decision."
Pope Francis also said last week 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.
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.
