Turkish city Mayor apologizes for Genocide: report

December 17, 2014 - 16:25 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Mayor of Turkish city of Mardin, Ahmet Turk, an ethnic Kurd, has apologized to the Armenians, Assyrians and Yazidis the involvement of some Kurdish tribes with the perpetrators of the 1915 Genocide, Panorama.am reports citing Turkish sources.

Addressing an event in Stockholm, Turk said that Armenians, Assyrians and Yazidis are the real masters of Kurdistan, which belongs to these peoples just as much as it belongs to the Kurds.

He also said that the liberation struggle of the Kurdish people, which has been going on for more than 30 years, is the liberation struggle of not only the Kurds, but also all peoples in the Middle East.

In late November, the Istanbul deputy of Kurdish Democratic Society Party Sebahat Tuncel submitted a document to the parliament urging President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to apologize for the Armenian Genocide on behalf of Turkey.

The parliamentarian also called Erdogan to apologize for the mid-20th century Kurdish massacres in Dersim, Marash, Sivas and Corum.

The President is urged to offer apologies from a parliamentary tribune, to be followed by mourning events at one of the massacre sites. Further, according to the document, Turkey's state archives should be disclosed, April 24 announced as a remembrance day, with moral and material damages compensated to Armenians.

Panorama.am. Turkish city Mayor apologizes to Armenians for Genocide

The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres and deportations, involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, Italy, 45 U.S. states, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Canada, Poland, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Venezuela, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.