Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected in a statement late Tuesday a resolution by the U.S. House of Representatives on the 1915 events. "We
Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected in a statement late Tuesday a resolution by the U.S. House of Representatives on the 1915 events.
“We reject the resolution H.R.296 entitled ‘Affirming the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide’ that is adopted today by the U.S. House of Representatives as expressing the sense of the Latter,” the Ministry said in the statement.
Adding that the resolution is “devoid of any historical or legal basis,” the MFA said that it has “apparently been been drafted and issued for domestic consumption.”
“The resolution itself is also not legally binding. As a meaningless political step, its sole addressees are the Armenian lobby and anti Turkey groups,” the Ministry added.
“Those who felt defeated for not being able to forestall Operation Peace Spring would be highly mistaken should they thought that they could take vengeance this way,” the statement added, pointing to Turkey’s recent anti-terror operation in northern Syria.
“There can be no further delusion than an attempt to rewrite history according to the ‘sense’ of a political body.”
Saying that 1915 events constitute a legitimate subject for debate according to the European Court of Human Rights, the Ministry added that there is no verdict of a competent court “with regard to the 1915 events that establishes the crime of genocide.”
“Hence, the debate on the events that occurred in 1915 belongs to the realm of history, not politics,” MFA concluded, reminding that Turkey’s proposal on the establishment of a joint historical commission was rejected by the Armenian side in 2005.
“The U.S. Administration and politicians as well as the American people are best placed to consider the damages this resolution seeking to disrupt Turkey-U.S ties does and will inflict upon the U.S. interests at an extremely fragile time in terms of the international and regional security. On the other hand, it is also noted that the attitude of the U.S. Administration on 1915 events remains the same.”