9.1% of Turks believe govt. must apologize for Armenian Genocide: poll

PanARMENIAN.Net - Less than 10 percent of Turks believe their government should recognize the mass killings of Armenians in World War I as Genocide, according to a survey published Tuesday, Jan 13, by Istanbul-based Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM).

Ahead of the 100th anniversary of the tragedy this year, the poll revealed that only 9.1 percent of those questioned believe Ankara should apologize for the killing of 1.5 million Armenians during Ottoman rule in 1915 and describe them as Genocide.

Another 9.1 percent were in favor of an apology without admitting to Genocide.

The survey was based on responses from 1,508 people between Nov 7 and Dec 7, 2014.

12 percent percent said the government should express its regret for the Armenians who lost their lives in 1915 but not apologize. Twenty-one percent preferred Turkey take no action on the Armenian Genocide issue, the survey found.

The same question was asked to a panel of 150 foreign policy experts and their responses display considerable differences with the public opinion poll.

While only 9 percent of the public believe that the Armenian Genocide should be recognized, this rate is at 19 percent among foreign policy experts. While a quarter of the experts argue that Turkey should apologize without recognizing the Genocide.

17 percent of experts argue that Turkey “should express its regret over the Armenians that lost their lives in 1915 but should not apologize.”

The most popular policy option for foreign policy experts is to emphasize that “all sides suffered losses and to express regret for all of the lives lost, not just Armenian.”

The main difference between the experts and the public is that while 21 percent of the public argues that Turkey should take no steps in 2015, only 1 percent of the experts agree with this line. According to the experts, 2015 is not a year that Turkey can afford to stand by watching without taking any initiative.