Ankara, 26 April 2021 (Anadolu News)
Expressing his and Turkish nation’s “immense” distress over Biden’s statement, Erdogan once more stated that the US president’s remarks “have no historical and legal basis.”
“As Turkey, we believe that it is inhumane to contest the sufferings of history,” Erdogan said, reminding that Turkey is the only nation and state that is without rebuke and has a clear and satisfied conscience about its history.
The president also said that the US and Europe “would not be able to appear in public” if they were to “compete” on the events in history. “If you call it genocide, you should look in the mirror and evaluate yourselves,” said Erdogan.
He further stated: “Investigating historical events and revealing the truth should be left to experts and historians, not to politicians.” On a proposed joint history commission on Armenian claims, Erdogan said Turkey is yet to receive a response on its offer.
“We have assured researchers of the commission of access to our archives, but other parties have not responded,” he added. Erdogan underscored that there is “no concrete evidence regarding Armenian allegations nor any international court decision.”
Giving a detailed historical background to the Armenian issue, Erdogan said that until the World War I, the Armenian gangs caused about 40 riots, which got out of control and turned into massacres.
The Turkish leader also said that millions of Turkish and Kurdish civilian population from the eastern Van to northeastern Kars provinces and from the eastern Erzurum province to the central Anatolian region were massacred by the Armenian gangs.
“There are mass graves of Turks massacred by Armenians in many places, but nowhere can you find mass graves belonging to Armenians,” he said. Erdogan went on saying that prior to the World War I, the records show that a total of 1.3 million Armenians lived in the Ottoman Empire. “There are over 1 million documents in our archives now. Come in and examine the documents,” he added.
Regarding the April 24, 1915 incidents claimed by Armenians, Erdogan said: “Nothing happened on April 24 in terms of human tragedy.”
“April 24, 1915 is only the day when the Ottoman Empire shut down [Armenian] organizations such as Dashnak, Hinchak and Ramgavar, which were engaged in activities with countries that were at war with the empire, and arrested 235 administrators of them,” he said.
Noting the relocation and resettlement law was still not introduced on that date, Erdogan said no such casualties from the Armenian side happened.
“The Armenian community in our country recognized this date as a day of remembrance of their own suffering, in line with the general practice in the world,” he said.
Despite knowing the truth on the events regarding the mentioned date, Erdogan reminded that Turkey still sends a message to those Armenian communities, sharing their pain.
The Ottoman Empire did not send the Armenian population elsewhere, it relocated them within its territory, he said.
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