Epress.am News from Armenia
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's historic statement 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 (but not using the term "genocide").
“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.
But at a press conference in parliament, Koç also expressed misgivings about Erdoğan's intentions, arguing that the step may have come as part of an effort to boost Turkey's shrinking prestige in the world.
“Erdoğan 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.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay on Thursday described the prime minister's message as “very important.”
“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.
During a visit to Çankırı province on Thursday, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli criticized the prime minister's statement, maintaining that Erdoğan 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.
“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.
Yusuf Halaçoğlu, the MHP's parliamentary group deputy chair, also criticized Erdoğan's statement. He maintained at a press meeting in parliament on Thursday that Erdoğan might move to admit, under pressure from abroad, that Ottoman Turks had committed genocide against Armenians.
In 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.
In a statement to Today's Zaman, 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 Erdoğan made, but rather by an organized lobby.