ANKARA
The attendance of the Russian and French presidents at a commemoration event in the Armenian capital for the 1915 events in the Ottoman Empire will cast a shadow on the Minsk Group's impartiality, said Turkish prime minister late on Thursday.
The remarks of Ahmet Davutoglu came before the visit of Vladimir Putin and Francois Hollande to Armenia's capital, Yerevan. The two presidents were participating in the events on the 100th anniversary of the 1915 events.
"We expect the Minsk Group -- that mediates in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia -- to behave objectively in the face of the Armenian attitude which abuses the issues," said Davutoglu.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's Minsk Group was created in 1992 to encourage a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.
OSCE's Minsk group, co-chaired by Russia, France, and the United States, could not achieve concrete results despite 20 years of negotiations.
Touching upon Putin, who named the 1915 events as "genocide," Davutoglu said he is in touch with the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and "necessary steps" will be taken in this regard.
"Any position that disturbs and insults our history, will abuse our trust in anyway," said Davutoglu.
Regarding the German parliament's controversial motion about the 1915 events, Davutoglu said it is "unacceptable."
The German parliament will debate a controversial motion Friday, which also uses the term “genocide” for the first time in Germany's history when referring to the tragedy of 1915.
Davutoglu spoke over the phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday to discuss the motion submitted to the German parliament, deputy government spokeswoman Christine Wirtz said Wednesday.
German President Joachim Gauck labeled Thursday the relocation of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as "genocide" despite calls by Turkey not to politicize the tragedy of 1915.
Turkey commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Canakkale to be held from April 24 to 25, with presidents, parliamentary speakers, prime ministers, and officials from all over the world.
Turkey has called for the establishment of a joint commission of historians and the opening of archives to study and uncover what happened between the Ottoman empire and its Armenian citizens.
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.
The relocation by the Ottomans of Armenians in eastern Anatolia following the revolts resulted in numerous casualties.Turkey does not dispute that there were casualties on both sides, but rejects the definition of "genocide."
