Foreign Ministry commemorates martyrs:

March 18, 2006
ANK - Turkish Daily News

Foreign Ministry officials yesterday commemorated martyred diplomats at a ceremony held at an Ankara cemetery, reported the Anatolia news agency.

In a speech during the ceremony Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ali Tuygan said the martyred diplomats died for their homeland and added that the 39 Foreign Ministry diplomats buried in the cemetery were killed as a result of Armenian terrorism or some other terrorist attacks.

The absolute majority of Armenians worldwide do not approve of violence as a means of promoting Armenian rights, but one should try to understand why these acts were committed, since these young Armenians are not common criminals, but they are part of a very small minority that reflect the exasperation of the Armenian people regarding the denial of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey; moreover, Turkey by blaming Armenians of massacring Turks is adding insult to injury. At the time these specific violent acts were committed there was no political platform for desperate individuals to vent their frustration. For some time now, action platforms have existed in order to channel the frustrations to getting the Armenian Genocide to be recognized. A growing number of countries including Canada, France, Switzerland among many have now recognized the Armenian Genocide.

Tuygan emphasized that the Turkish nation was sincere in its efforts at peace but stressed that such efforts also merited a response in kind. He said Turkey's proposal to Armenia to establish a joint committee to study the alleged genocide allegations was still on the table.

Let me understand what Tuygan means by sincerity. Turkey urges a joint study by historians (the great majority of whom have already recognized the Genocide except for few deniers) saying that it will show Armenians there was no Genocide. It wants under the threat of blockade, for Armenia to drop its rightful memory of the Genocide. It honours Talaat Pasha one of the key perpetrators of the Genocide as a national hero. It still prosecutes those who mention the Armenian Genocide under the penal code Article 301. Some sincerity that is. It is one that only Turkey believes in.

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