Turkey condemns Belgium for calling 1915 incidents ‘genocide'
by Daily Sabah
ANKARAJul 24, 2015 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Daily Sabah
Jul 24, 2015 12:00 am
Turkey will not withdraw its ambassador from Belgium after the Belgian parliament unanimously accepted the resolution late on Thursday regarding the so-called Armenian genocide claims. A high-level Turkish diplomatic source who spoke to Daily Sabah under condition of anonymity said that Turkey's ambassador to Brussels Mehmet Hakan Olcay will not be recalled to Ankara for consultations amid an escalating diplomatic row with Belgium. Previously Turkey has withdrawn its envoy whenever such resolutions were passed. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement released late on Thursday, strongly condemned the Belgian parliament's resolution.
"This decision has distorted the historical facts and disregarded the law,'' the ministry stated, adding that the decision constitutes the last step in the activities which have turned into a campaign to tarnish Turkish identity and history since the outset of 2015 in Belgium. ''The statement of the prime minister of Belgium, Charles Michel, on June 18, 2015; anti-democratic practices incompatible with the fundamental rights and freedoms, particularly with the freedom of expression to which the politicians who express different views have been subjected; and lastly the grave picture that emerged with the decision of the House of Representatives of Belgium dated 23 July 2015, have also been regretted by the Turkish Belgian community and have reached a stage profoundly affecting our bilateral relations,'' the ministry further added.
Two weeks ago, Belgian Parliament Foreign Relations Commission accepted the resolution, which describes the 1915 incidents as "genocide." On Thursday, the draft was accepted by the Belgian parliament with a unanimous vote after the amendments were talked over. The newly-accepted resolution also states that the "genocide" should not be associated with or correlated to the "Turkey of today" or with Turks living in Belgium.
Turkey has already withdrawn ambassadors from Austria, the Vatican and Luxembourg, but kept its envoy to Russia, adopting a likewise resolution on the 1915 incidents. Diplomatic sources expect that the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs will not recall Ambassadors Mehmet Hakan Olcay to Ankara for consultation. However, sources avoided comment about the reason behind this decision.
Turkey has repeatedly rejected this EU definition, claiming that Armenians died during a relocation process in 1915 during World War I, when a portion of the Armenian population living in the Ottoman Empire sided with the invading Russians.
Armenia has demanded an apology and compensation. Turkey has officially refuted the allegations, saying that although Armenians died during the relocations, many Turks also lost their lives in attacks carried out by Armenian gangs in Anatolia.
Turkey has called for the establishment of a joint commission of historians and the opening of archives to study and uncover what actually happened between the Ottoman government and its Armenian citizens.
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