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Erdogan banned calling Armenian Genocide “so-called”

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  • Gavur
    replied
    Turkish prime minister bans calling the Armenian Genocide “alleged” by Harut Sassouni

    The prime minister of Turkey, Receb Tayyip
    Erdogan, has reportedly issued a confidential
    decree (No. 2007-18) on July 3 banning the
    use of the term “sozde” (alleged or so-called)
    when referring to the Armenian Genocide.
    The news of this “secret” directive was made
    public on July 19 by Turkish Ulusal Kanal
    television and its website, and reposted on
    several other news sites since then. Turkish
    denialists reacted angrily to this decree, accusing
    the prime minister of undermining
    their efforts against the Congressional resolution
    on the Armenian Genocide.
    Turkish officials and reporters never fail
    to refer to the Armenian Genocide as the
    “so-called” or “alleged” genocide, thus casting
    doubt on the mass killings of Armenians by
    the Turkish government in 1915–23.
    According to Mr. Erdogan’s decree, henceforth
    the Armenian Genocide should be described
    in official statements and public discourse
    as the “events of 1915” or “Armenian
    allegations regarding the events of 1915.”
    The prime minister’s office has reportedly
    sent this decree to all state institutions, including
    all ministries, governors, mayors,
    universities, courts, and the Turkish General
    Staff.
    Mr. Erdogan is said to have stated in his
    decree that he was taking this action on the
    basis of a resolution adopted by the Council
    of Europe in February 2005. This probably is
    a reference to a recommendation by several
    Turkish nongovernmental organizations in
    February 2005 to cleanse Turkish textbooks
    of “xenophobia, machismo, and ultranationalism.”
    The proposal was the result of a threeyear
    study funded by the European Commission.
    Ulusal Kanal explained that the
    Council of Europe had called on Turkey to
    refrain from using certain disparaging words
    and phrases in referring to Armenians and
    Greeks in Turkish textbooks.
    The European Parliament has adopted
    a number of resolutions since 1987 urging
    the government of Turkey to recognize the
    Armenian Genocide, if it wished to join the
    European Union. However, the EU has not
    made such recognition a requirement for
    Turkish membership.
    Mr. Erdogan has reportedly ordered that
    his decree remain confidential, while mandating
    its implementation by all officials and
    society at large. In the coming days, it remains
    to be seen whether Turkish government
    officials and the media will indeed stop
    referring to the Armenian Genocide as “alleged”
    or “so-called.” Especially interesting
    will be the case of Foreign Minister Abdullah
    Gul, who makes frequent denialist statements
    on the Armenian Genocide.
    If the news of this decree proves to be accurate,
    it would be widely criticized by Turkish
    denialists, while being hailed by Europeans
    as a sign of progress by Turkey on the taboo
    subject of the Armenian Genocide.
    It is noteworthy that when Prime Minister
    Erdogan first came to power, he made cautious
    statements when asked about the Armenian
    Genocide. Notably, he did not deny the fact of
    the Armenian Genocide, but simply stated that
    “these events” must be researched or looked
    into to find out what really happened.
    Immediately, the Turkish military establishment
    and ultranationalists began accusing
    him of being too pliant in accepting “imposed
    terms” for joining the European Union, and
    not reacting strongly against Kurdish and Armenian
    demands. In response, Mr. Erdogan
    started taking tougher positions against EU
    membership requirements, the Armenian
    Genocide, claims for Kurdish autonomy, the
    Cyprus conflict, and Israel’s mistreatment of
    Palestinians. The prime minister wanted to
    show his hawkish opponents at home that he
    was just as good a Turk as his critics and that
    they were wrong in accusing him of compromising
    Turkey’s national interests.
    On the Armenian Genocide issue, he went
    from saying that he did not know what really
    had happened in 1915, to denying outright
    that genocide had taken place, claiming that
    the Turkish nation could not have committed
    such a heinous crime. Ironically, while repeatedly
    denying the facts of the Armenian Genocide,
    he was, at the same time, suggesting that
    a commission of historians be formed to study
    whether such a crime had been committed.
    It remains to be seen whether Prime Minister
    Erdogan, following his party’s major
    victory in Sunday’s parliamentary elections,
    would be much less sensitive to the accusations
    of his opponents. His newly revealed
    decree on banning the term “alleged” Armenian
    Genocide could be an early sign that the
    prime minister now feels politically strong
    enough to take more liberal and daring positions
    on a number of thorny domestic and
    foreign policy issues, including the Armenian
    Genocide.http://www.armenianreporteronline.co...2007/A0728.pdf

    Leave a comment:


  • Joseph
    replied
    My opinion on this is as follows:

    The Turks are taking advice from their well-paid lobbyists in the US. Using the terms "so-called", "alleged", "false", etc make the Turks sound even more guilty. By toning down their rhetoric, they make the appearance that they are not denialists and are actually appeasing Armenians to a degree...which we very well know they are not. Smart move actually, though I don't think many Turkish institutions or the general public will go along with it.

    Leave a comment:


  • Steph
    replied
    A big step forward !

    Leave a comment:


  • Gavur
    replied
    Btw, it looks like a scoop by Hye-Tert through a leak no ones picked up on it yet its naturally hush hush in the amazing press of Turkey.(they probably haven;t figure out what spin to put on it so soon after the election
    I love it!!!

    Leave a comment:


  • Gavur
    replied
    I disagree ,this is huge!!!
    Not only we are forcing are enemies to change the language they use against us, it also creates opportunuty 's for more direct dialogue between us and like minded Turk's unfettered (or less fettered).The important thing is we are maintaining our status in the world's eyes as the moving party in this dispute and they are the ones giving way to freedom of speech between us and the Turks.I mean Turkish diaspora will look more foolish now using a "blatant denier's "stand compared to their state using "not admitting" stance.

    Leave a comment:


  • 1.5 million
    replied
    Not much of an improvement really - not sure if this is a positive development or not - my gut feel is that Turkey is still supporting denialist semantics and a posture of denial.

    Leave a comment:


  • Erdogan banned calling Armenian Genocide “so-called”

    dogan banned calling Armenian Genocide “so-called”
    24.07.2007 14:26 GMT+04:00
    /PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Prime Minister of Turkey Receb Tayyip Erdogan has reportedly issued a confidential decree (No. 2007-18) on July 3 banning the use of the term “sozde” (alleged or so-called in Turkish) when referring to the Armenian Genocide. The news of this “secret” directive was made public on July 19 by Turkish “Ulusal Kanal” TV and its website and reposted on several other news sites since then. Turkish denialists reacted angrily to this decree, accusing the Prime Minister of undermining their efforts against the congressional resolution on the Armenian Genocide. Turkish officials and reporters never fail to refer to the Armenian Genocide as the “so-called” or “alleged” genocide, thus casting doubt on the mass killings of Armenians by the Turkish government from 1915 to 1923. According to Erdogan’s decree, henceforth the Armenian Genocide should be described in official statements and public discourse as the “events of 1915” or “Armenian allegations regarding the events of 1915”.

    The Prime Minister’s office has reportedly sent this decree to all state institutions, including all ministries, governors, mayors, universities, courts, and the General Chief of Staff. Erdogan is said to have stated in his decree that he was taking this action on the basis of a resolution adopted by the Council of Europe in February 2005. This probably is a reference to a recommendation by several Turkish non-governmental organizations in February 2005 to “cleanse Turkish textbooks of xenophobia and ultra-nationalism”. The proposal was the result of a three-year study funded by the European Commission. Ulusal Kanal explained that the Council of Europe had called on Turkey to refrain from using certain disparaging words and phrases in referring to Armenians and Greeks in Turkish textbooks.
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