Turkey's ruling party slams US move on Armenian events

ANKARA

Turkey does not accept and strongly condemns the U.S. Senate resolution on Armenian events that "poisons the climate of Turkish-American relations," the ruling party said on Friday.

“We do not accept by any means and strongly condemn the U.S. Senate resolution which is based on false claims on the events that took place in 1915 during the Ottoman state, and poisons the Turkish-American relations,” Omer Celik, a spokesman for the Justice and Development (AK) Party, said on Twitter.

The U.S. Senate unanimously passed Thursday a resolution recognizing Armenian claims on the 1915 events.

Celik said the “baseless resolution” could please “the lobby of genocide industry” but it uses history as a means of the policy based on lies.

“It is of a nature that will prevent the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations,” he said, adding that it was an “irresponsible move” in terms of policy.

Celik said that the resolution showed how “genocide economy” managed by fanatic Armenian interest groups is affecting the “American lobbying system” despite their national interests.

He also recalled that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered to open archives and let historians work together, and said the Armenian side is avoiding it.

Celik stressed that the U.S. move did not comply with the solidarity spirit of NATO alliance.

Also criticizing the U.S. Senate resolution following a similar House move, Turkish parliament speaker Mustafa Sentop said it is a decision that could not be taken seriously.

"The U.S. issue is neither Armenians nor 1915 events. They are playing all their cards for taking up a position on the recent themes negotiated with Turkey," Sentop told the journalists in the parliament.

He called on the U.S. to consider its own history, and said: "Every single year of their history is full of shame."

Fuat Oktay, Turkey's vice president, also lashed out at the fresh U.S. resolution.

“The U.S. Senate tried to rewrite history with lies through passing the resolution recognizing so-called Armenian claims,” Oktay said on Twitter.

Stressing that the real witness of history is the archives of the countries, he reiterated that Turkish archives are open to all scientists and historians.

Turkey's position on the events of 1915 is that the deaths of Armenians in eastern Anatolia took place when some sided with invading Russians and revolted against Ottoman forces. A subsequent relocation of Armenians resulted in numerous casualties.

Turkey objects to the presentation of the incidents as "genocide" but describes the 1915 events as a tragedy in which both sides suffered casualties.

Ankara has repeatedly proposed the creation of a joint commission of historians from Turkey and Armenia plus international experts to examine the issue.