Turkey’s parliament speaker Cemil Cicek argued on Monday in Ankara that Armenia has been conducting a “smear campaign” of late against Turkey, ahead of the 100th anniversary of the incidents of 1915, during which an unknown number of people died amid civil war in the midst of World War I.
On Wednesday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan released a statement in nine languages, including Armenian, in which he termed the incidents of 1915 as “inhumane” and offered condolences to the Armenians. The move attracted worldwide media reaction.
The incidents of 1915 took place during World War I, when a portion of the Armenian population living in the Ottoman Empire sided with invading Russians and rose up against governing Ottoman rulers, followed by a decision by the Ottoman-era officials to relocate Armenians living in eastern Anatolia. An unknown number of people died amid civil war.
No country could escape from the “smear campaign” of Armenian diaspora if their parliaments keep one eye on the domestic policy, Cicek said after meeting with the president of the Romanian House of Representatives, Valeriu Stefan Zgonea.
“We have asked the Romanian Parliament to be sensitive about this issue,” Cicek added.
The Armenian diaspora and the state of Armenia describe the incidents of 1915 as 'genocide' and ask for compensation, while Turkey says that even though Armenians died during the relocation, many Turks also died due to attacks by Armenian gangs all across Anatolia.
Exactly what unfolded in 1915 continues to be a contentious issue between Turkey and Armenia, and remains a spoiler in relations between the two neighboring countries.
Describing Erdogan’s statement regarding the 1915 incidents as a “perfect stance,” Zgonea said the statement was a positive policy.
“Romania didn’t issue any formal statement on the 1915 incidents. We agree on the idea that the incidents should be dealt by historians,” Zgonea said. He pointed out that relations between Turkey and Romania are not superficial but pragmatic.
Zgonea said Romania’s Turkish minority have been promised allocations to establish a mosque in Bucharest, Romania's capital.
“We will soon release the location of the mosque and hope to build a social and cultural center in Istanbul,” Zgonea told Cicek during the meeting.
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