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President Barack Obama avoided
the term "genocide" when he addressed Turkish lawmakers
Monday about the bloodshed in the final days of the Ottoman
Empire. Turkey rejects the view that there was a systematic
campaign to wipe out the Armenian population.
Bahceli, the
leader of the Nationalist Action Party ? the second largest
opposition party in parliament ? accused Armenia of carrying
out a "shameless" campaign to condemn Turkey for genocide
and claim lands in eastern Turkey.
Turkey fears
that, if the genocide claim is recognized, Armenians will
demand compensation ? either money or lost land.
"I want to
announce from here that we're rejecting his request to
accept false claims and lies which have nothing to do with
our history," Bahceli said in response to Obama. "It is up
to President Obama whether to face grief and shame in their
own history."
As a
presidential candidate, Obama said the killings amounted to
genocide. He did not repeat that charge Monday. But he said,
in response to a question, that he had not changed his
views.
Turkey is
struggling to counter Armenian Diaspora groups that are
pushing European governments and the United States to
declare the killings genocide. Obama's call focused
attention on the issue with the approach of April 24, the
date Armenians mark as the start of the killings.
Some ordinary
Turks said fairness should prevail.
"O.K., let's
face our past but Armenians should not deny their history
either," said Elif Okcugil, a 42-year-old chemist. "The
incidents were first started by Armenians."
As the Muslim
Ottoman empire faltered, minority Armenian Christians began
asserting their identity. During World War I, amid reports
of Armenian collusion with the enemy army of Christian
Czarist Russia, Armenians were forced out of towns and
villages throughout the Turkish heartland of Anatolia. Many
died.
Turkey says
the death toll has been inflated and those killed were
victims of civil war and unrest. Turks who describe it as
genocide have on occasion been prosecuted.
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