EU Rapporteur: Parliament's 1915 motion not 'insult to Turkey'

STRASBOURG

The European Parliament's recent resolution terming the 1915 events as "genocide" was “not an insult to Turkey,” the EU rapporteur Kati Piri said on Saturday.

Speaking to The Anadolu Agency, the European Parliament rapporteur for Turkey defended the resolution, stating that it was just a “political judgment of something that happened 100 years ago, not an insult to Turkey.”

“This is (also) not something related to the EU negotiation process," she added, "It's not some extra criterion we're suddenly imposing on Turkey."

Last month, the European Parliament adopted a resolution that recognized the 1915 events affecting Armenians as "genocide."

The European Parliament first recognized the 1915 events as "genocide" in a 1987 resolution, which the parliament recalled in a vote Wednesday - the centenary of the 1915 events.

“I know how sensitive the topic is in Turkey, but I don't have the feeling that there is anything to repair,” Piri noted.

Turkey has repeatedly rejected the EU's definition of the events and has pointed out that Armenians died during a relocation process in 1915 during World War I - a time when a portion of the Armenian population living in the Ottoman Empire had sided with the invading Russians and revolted against the empire.

In a rare move, Turkey’s ruling party and two main opposition parties came together to issue a joint statement strongly condemning the resolution. 

"We consider the European Parliament's resolution extremely unfortunate and regrettable, and strongly condemn this partial approach which is against the raison d'etre of the European Parliament, which is the idea of establishing peace, tolerance and a common future instead of war and conflict," the statement said.