Turkey Discards Armenian Genocide Motion from European Parliament

May 1, 2015 By administrator

ANKARA—Turkey has discarded a European Parliament motion recognizing the mass killing of Armenians under Ottoman rule during World War I as genocide, as a senior EU official warned Ankara about the consequences of its reaction to statements made by countries and organizations labeling the mass killings genocide, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

The European Parliament sent its motion to the office of the Permanent Delegation of Turkey to the EU on April 29, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reports. The office sent back the motion on April 30, with a statement by the Permanent Delegation of Turkey attached expressing Turkey’s anger.

In a response, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said, “The European Parliament repeated the same exact mistake it made in the past, by being incompatible with international law and exceeding its competence.”

“We return this text, which is an unprecedented example of incoherence in all aspects, verbatim to the abovementioned institution so that the text finds its place among the documents that the European Parliament will shy away from remembering in the future,” the Foreign Ministry said in a written statement released on April 15, only hours after the adoption of the motion in Brussels.

Almost simultaneously with Ankara’s move of returning the motion, the commissioner in charge of EU enlargement argued that Turkey’s backlash against European countries calling the 1915 killings genocide will complicate Ankara’s ambitions to join the EU.

Commissioner Johannes Hahn told Austrian newspaper Der Standard on April 30 that Ankara’s “very harsh” reaction should be seen in the context of the upcoming June elections.

“This [response] may be quite popular in parts of the country and among certain parts of the population. But what worries me are the long-term consequences,” Hahn said. “The seeds of an anti-European and anti-Western stance are thus sown, which, from today’s perspective, make a future [EU] entry very difficult.”

Turkey has rebuked several EU members including Germany and Austria whose parliaments recognized the Armenian Genocide in resolutions marking the 100th anniversary of the tragic event.

EU: Motion on #Armeniangenocide submitted to European Parliament

February 9, 2015 By administrator

Belgian MEP Gerolf Annemans, chairman of Vlaams Belang party, submitted to European Parliament a motion calling on Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

The document says:

– having regard to Rule 133 of its Rules of Procedure;

– having regard to the many studies and historical data on the situation of the Armenian population in Turkey at the beginning of the twentieth century,

– having regard to the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide which defines genocide,

– having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 18 June 1987 on a political solution to the Armenian question,

– having regard to subsequent Parliament resolutions in which it has argued to a greater or lesser extent in favor of recognizing the Armenian genocide of 1915,

A. whereas these resolutions have not yet induced the Turkish government to recognize the genocide;

B. whereas a century after the events, the time has come to initiate reconciliation;

1. Calls on the Turkish government officially to recognize the 1915 genocide of the Armenians living in Turkey perpetrated by the last government of the Ottoman Empire;

2. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Turkish government, the Armenian government, the Commission, the Council and the Presidents of the Parliament of the Republic of Turkey and the Parliament of the Republic of Armenia.

The motion was signed by Marine Le Pen, Louis Aliot, Marie-Christine Arnautu, Nicolas Bay, Dominique Bilde, Marie-Christine Boutonnet, Steeve Briois, Mireille D’Ornano, Edouard Ferrand, Sylvie Goddyn, Jean-François Jalkh, Gilles Lebreton, Philippe Loiseau, Dominique Martin, Joëlle Mélin, Bernard Monot, Sophie Montel, Florian Philippot, Jean-Luc Schaffhauser, Mylène Troszczynski, Matteo Salvini, Mara Bizzotto, Mario Borghezio, Gianluca Buonanno, Lorenzo Fontana, Marcel de Graaff, Hans Jansen, Olaf Stuger, Harald Vilimsky, Barbara Kappel.

Turkey, opposition the AKP government Motion is struggle against Syria, not ISIL

October 2, 2014 By administrator

ANKARA

The motion brought to the Parliament by the government is not aiming at broadening the struggle against terror, but Syria, according to main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

“We would support a motion on the struggle against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIL] or the Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK], in short, terrorist organizations. This was also what the Western coalition was looking for: A struggle against the terrorist organization of ISIL,” he said during an Ankara meeting Oct. 2 with journalists from the International Press Institute (IPI) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

“This is not the motion that came to the Parliament. On the contrary, it is to struggle against Syria,” he said.

Many items were put into the bill, he also said.

The opposition leader said there was a perception in the west that Turkey was backing ISIL.

“This perception is correct. ISIL has offices in Turkey. They have units that gather members in Turkey.
All of these are known things,” he said, adding he was against sending Turkish soldiers to another country.

“Turkey should take an open stance if it wants to fight against ISIL.”

The opposition leader was speaking before the motion was voted on at Parliament.

October/02/2014