ISTANBUL — A Kurdish independent MP has extended apologies to the Armenian nation on behalf of his ancestors who took part in the 1915 anti-Armenian massacres in the Ottoman Empire.
“We – as their sons, children and grandchildren – ask for forgiveness,” Agos quoted Ahmet Turk, an MP elected from the Mardin Province, as saying
He reportedly called upon the Turkish state to follow suit and apologize to the Armenians, Assyrians and Yezidis.
Noting that the Armenians suffered a big grief in 1915, Turk said his nation was used as a tool for committing the massacre against the ethnic minorities residing in the Ottoman Empire.
“The Armenians saw much grief in 1915. And the Kurds too, have their share [of guilt] in that. Our grandfathers and fathers were used for [fighting] against both the Armenians, and Assyrians, as well as the Yezidis. We today – as their children and grandchildren – apologize to them. Receiving apologies is important to my mind. If those events happened before our republic came into existence, what obstacles are there?” he said.
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1 comment
Genocide Acknowledgment without Accountability is hollow and meaningless.
An apology or acknowledgment must be accompanied with accountability – otherwise, the acknowledgment is worse than denial.
Kurds claim lands of Western Armenia as their own (that is territories of the first republic 1918-1920 – Mt. Ararat, Kars, Ani, Ardahan, Artvin, Erzurum, and even Etchmiadzin.
Genocide Acknowledgment with Accountability. Accountability means land, reparation and restitution. A good example of land recovery is Artzakh.
Beware of a solution (acknowledgment) that is worse than the problem (no accountability).
Turkey might very well spring a 100th anniversary surprise offensive by offering a half-vorr acknowledgment to all the minorities that once lived in Anatolia, and announce the opening of some border crossing as compensation, they might even renovate few more old Armenian Churches. Imagine all the positive publicity Turkey will receive, it might even get accepted in to the EU, and the British will rally behind Turkey and act as the mouthpiece describing how great Turkey has become. The oil and gas (operated by British Petroleum) will then flow form Central Asia into Europe via the NABUCCO-pipelines currently being built on its way to the gateways of the Caucasus (Georgia & Armenia).