NEW YORK
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said that the United States should not blindly accept certain countries' version of events when it comes to the 1915 incidents between Turkey and Armenia
The 1915 incidents took place during World War I when a portion of the Armenian population living in the Ottoman Empire sided with the invading Russians and rose up against the ruling Ottoman authorities.
The uprisings were followed by a decision by the Ottoman Empire to relocate Armenians living in eastern Anatolia.
Addressing members of U.S. non-governmental organizations at the Turkish Association in New York on Saturday, Cavusoglu said that the peoples of Armenia and Turkey have "enough common sense not to be fooled by politicians and academics who have political motivations."
"The 1915 incidents are being misused for political gain and votes," the foreign minister continued. He explained that the U.S. must take into account Turkey's views about the incidents as well.
Cavusoglu also mentioned that the U.S. and Turkey have a strong alliance in matters pertaining to foreign policy and that the Turkish community's voice in the United States was becoming stronger by the day.
The Armenian diaspora and the state of Armenia have both described the incidents as "genocide" and have asked for compensation.
Turkey states that even though Armenians died during the relocation, many Turks were also killed in attacks carried out by Armenian gangs.
"We should oppose and prevent this great sorrow in our history being used for malicious purposes and for influencing our friends in the U.S. We should also show them what really took place with real, empirical evidence," he said.
In April, Turkey’s then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who was elected president with popular vote on August 10 offered his condolences for those Armenians who died during the incidents of 1915.
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