Turkey rejects European Parliament report over Genocide reference

April 14, 2016 - 18:12 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey rejects a European Parliament progress report released on Thursday, April 14, Ankara's European Union Affairs Minister said, citing a reference in the report to the Armenian Genocide of 1915, Reuters reports.

"Unfortunately this year... the same reference takes place in the European Parliament's Turkey report. These expressions, despite all our efforts and our warnings, could not be dropped," Volkan Bozkir told reporters at a news conference in Austria, when asked about the report's reference to genocide.

"That's why we will consider this report as null and void and our permanent representative will send it back to the European Parliament."

In 2014 as well as, Turkey rejected the progress report on EU membership compiled by the European Parliament.

Definition of the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 as genocide was again among the key sticking points for the Turkish government.

The country’s EU Minister Volkan Bozkir said then that Ankara will return the report without opening it.

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.