{"id":252582,"date":"2014-04-25T13:06:32","date_gmt":"2014-04-25T09:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.epress.am\/?p=252582"},"modified":"2014-04-25T13:11:15","modified_gmt":"2014-04-25T09:11:15","slug":"turkey-politicians-respond-to-erdogans-armenian-genocide-statement-todays-zaman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/2014\/04\/25\/turkey-politicians-respond-to-erdogans-armenian-genocide-statement-todays-zaman.html","title":{"rendered":"Turkey Politicians Respond to Erdogan’s Armenian Genocide Statement: Today’s Zaman"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tTurkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan's historic statement<\/strong><\/span><\/a> in which he extended, on Wednesday, condolences to the grandchildren of victims of the Armenian Genocide, has received a mixed reaction at home, reports Today's Zaman<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/a> (but not using the term "genocide"). <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“Naturally, we also share the pain of all people who lost their lives [during the deportations],” Haluk Koç, spokesperson of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), said on Thursday in a statement that seemed to show at least tacit support for the prime minister's message.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBut at a press conference in parliament, Koç also expressed misgivings about Erdo\u011fan's intentions, arguing that the step may have come as part of an effort to boost Turkey's shrinking prestige in the world.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“Erdo\u011fan has gradually lost, over the past two years, its [Turkey’s] prestige in the world. He might be, through messages of goodwill, seeking prestige. If you place this process in a political context, cut off [the issue] from historical facts, you can be sure that [the move] will be perceived as an effort to regain prestige,” Koç said.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tTurkish Deputy Prime Minister Be\u015fir Atalay on Thursday described the prime minister's message as “very important.”\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“A very progressive statement and a step [forward] was taken on the issue. This is very important. This is a message that says, ‘Let us totally resolve this problem,’ while nearing the 100th anniversary [of the genocide],” Atalay said during a meeting of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK) in Istanbul.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring a visit to Çank\u0131r\u0131 province on Thursday, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli criticized the prime minister's statement, maintaining that Erdo\u011fan shares the same mentality with those who chanted the slogan “We are all Armenians” during a demonstration protesting the murder of Armenian journalist, Turkish citizen Hrant Dink in Istanbul in 2007.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“The prime minister has started to express the same thing [as these protesters]. This is very much unfortunate. He should immediately [announce that he has dropped out of] the presidential race,” Bahçeli said.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tYusuf Halaço\u011flu, the MHP's parliamentary group deputy chair, also criticized Erdo\u011fan's statement. He maintained at a press meeting in parliament on Thursday that Erdo\u011fan might move to admit, under pressure from abroad, that Ottoman Turks had committed genocide against Armenians.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a written statement on Thursday, the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy (BDP) Party called on Turkey to face its history and apologize to the Armenian people. \n<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement to Today's Zaman<\/em>, former AK Party MP Faruk Bal stressed that it will not be possible to resolve the Armenian issue by one or two statements, such as those Erdo\u011fan made, but rather by an organized lobby.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan’s historic statement in which he extended condolences to the grandchildren of victims of the Armenian Genocide, has received a mixed reaction…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":237031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tstyn_error":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[10372,10427,10426],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252582"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}