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Turkish intellectuals issue apology to Armenians
times of india ^ | 16 Dec 2008

Posted on 12/15/2008 11:48:02 AM PST by george76

A group of about 200 Turkish intellectuals on Monday issued an apology on the Internet for the World War I-era massacres of Armenians in Turkey.

The group of prominent academics, journalists, writers and artists avoided using the contentious term ``genocide'' in the apology, using the less explosive ``Great Catastrophe'' instead.

But the apology is a sign that many in Turkey are ready to break a long-held taboo against acknowledging Turkish culpability for the deaths.

Historians estimate that, in the last days of the Ottoman Empire, up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks in what is widely regarded as the first genocide of the 20th century. Armenians have long pushed for the deaths to be recognized as genocide.

While Turkey does not deny that many died in that era, the country has rejected the term genocide...

(Excerpt) Read more at timesofindia.indiatimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: armenia; armenians; christians; genocide; islam; mohammedanism; mohammedanism1208; mohammedanism122008; turkey

1 posted on 12/15/2008 11:48:02 AM PST by george76
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To: george76

Turkish President Gul recently went to Armenia, watched a soccer match with the Armenian President which was followed by a state dinner in Yerevan.

Progress indeed. Well met.


2 posted on 12/15/2008 11:54:55 AM PST by onedoug
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To: george76

Çok iyi!


3 posted on 12/15/2008 11:59:56 AM PST by RJR_fan (Winners and lovers shape the future. Whiners and losers TRY TO PREDICT IT.)
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To: george76
Our strength consists in our speed and in our brutality. Genghis Khan led millions of women and children to slaughter—with premeditation and a happy heart. History sees in him solely the founder of a state. It’s a matter of indifference to me what a weak western European civilization will say about me. I have issued the command—and I’ll have anybody who utters but one word of criticism executed by a firing squad—that our war aim does not consist in reaching certain lines, but in the physical destruction of the enemy. Accordingly, I have placed my death-head formation in readiness—for the present only in the East—with orders to them to send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish derivation and language. Only thus shall we gain the living space (Lebensraum) which we need. Who, after all, speaks to-day of the annihilation of the Armenians?

Adolph Hitler

4 posted on 12/15/2008 12:35:01 PM PST by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: 2banana
"One mans death is a tragedy. A million is a statistic." Josef Stalin.

L

5 posted on 12/15/2008 12:42:02 PM PST by Lurker ("America is at that awkward stage. " Claire Wolfe, call your office.)
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To: george76

This is some good news! With a significant number of Turkish intellectuals finally following Orhan Pamuk’s courageous lead, perhaps our State Department and Executive Branch (under many presidents) - historically so desparate for the support of majority-Muslim states as to ignore even the most basic interests of Christians - will be shamed into showing basic decency by recognizing the Armenian Genocide. Perhaps even these panderers will recognize that it’s disgraceful for them, safe, secure, and well-fatted as they are, to fail to do what some brave Turks are doing at so much risk from Islamaniacs and nationalist thugs.


6 posted on 12/15/2008 12:49:44 PM PST by Mogwai (RINO overachievement: not content with blowing his campaign, Mac is trying to sink Palin)
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To: Mogwai

Good to see that the Turkish government’s official whitewashing isn’t accepted by at least a few educated Turks. I think it’s important to recognize the genocide in the face of the repeated lies about history for two reasons. 1)Respect for those who were slaughtered. 2)To stop a precedent from being set.

If this is allowed to stand as “ancient history,” we are effectively saying that we’re too busy to worry about the details of a Muslim country committing genocide against Christians and then denying it.

By the way, as someone who’s 1/4 Armenian and 1/4 Polish, the hitler quote is chilling.


7 posted on 12/15/2008 1:42:15 PM PST by MoTiger
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To: MoTiger

Just read the full article. One more thing, to the Turkish nationalists who are so insulted that their ancestors could have possibly done something like that. There’s a grave in the family cemetary without a body for a relative who was beheaded by the Turks over there. So the heck with you and your ignorant lies. I don’t want your land or your silly country, but I refuse to let you perpetuate a lie.

Also, what do the Turks say about the killing (apparently as recently as 2007) of those who spoke out about the genocide?


8 posted on 12/15/2008 1:48:13 PM PST by MoTiger
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