Permanent Delegation of Turkey to the European Union returned Friday, June 17 the European Parliament’s (EP) 2015 Turkey progress report over the mention of theArmenian Genocide, Daily Sabah says.
Diplomatic sources said that the report, which the EP passed in April by 375 votes in favor and 133 against, was rejected without even being opened due its request to recognize 1915 mass killings of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire as genocide.
Turkey also returned a previous report in spring 2015 for the same reason.
“Turkey will reject the European Parliament Progress Report on Turkey if it includes any mention of an Armenian Genocide,” Turkey’s then-EU Minister Volkan Bozkir said.
The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres, and deportations involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.
The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.
Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.
The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, the Italian Chamber of Deputies, majority of U.S. states, parliaments of Greece, Cyprus, Argentina, Belgium and Wales, National Council of Switzerland, Chamber of Commons of Canada, Polish Sejm, Vatican, European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.