Turkey recalls envoy to Austria over condemnation of Armenian ‘genocide’
Turkey has recalled its ambassador to Vienna for consultations in protest at Austrian legislators’ condemnation of the massacre of Armenians during World War I as “genocide.”
“The Austrian parliament’s declaration has created great indignation at our side. It is obvious that this will leave lasting negative marks over Turkey-Austria friendship and relations,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
The statement added that Turkey has conveyed its strong protest to the Austrian ambassador to Ankara, Klaus Wolfer, and recalled its ambassador to Vienna, Hasan Gogus, for consultations.
“The Austrian parliament, contrary to the law and historic facts, has no authority to attribute offense to the Turkish nation,” it said, adding, “It should be known that this slander thrown at Turkey and at Turkish nation’s history will not be forgotten.”
On April 20, Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Ankara shares Armenians’ pain over the mass killing of their ancestors in the Ottoman Empire, but stopped well short of recognizing the killings as genocide.
“We once again respectfully remember and share the pain of grandchildren and children of Ottoman Armenians who lost their lives during deportation in 1915,” Davutoglu said.
“To reduce everything to a single word, to put responsibility through generalizations on the Turkish nation alone... is legally and morally problematic,” he said.
Armenians claim that up to 1.5 million Armenian Christians were systematically slaughtered in eastern Turkey through mass killings, forced relocations and starvation, a process that began in 1915 and took place over several years during World War I and the breakup of the Ottoman Empire.
Ankara rejects the term “genocide” and says 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians, and at least as many Turks perished between 1915 and 1917, in what the Turkish government sees as the casualties of World War I.
MP/HJL/HMV
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