Turkish Historian Describes Accusations of Assyrian and Armenian Genocides as "Bogus"

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey is now being haunted by claims of an Assyrian genocide in 1915 during the country's relocations. Bulent Ozdemir, head of the Turkish Historical Society's (TTK) Assyrian Studies Section, responded yesterday to a draft report by Dutch Christian Democrat parliamentarian Camiel Eurlings, in which he asserted that Turkey should acknowledge the Pontic Greek, Assyrian and Armenian genocides. Ozdemir said that claims regarding an Assyrian genocide during World War I "are groundless and branded them "bogus" along with the Armenian Genocide."



Ozdemir said that they had prepared a book on the issue and during its preparation process they mostly used foreign archive documents rather than the Ottoman archives to make it more reliable and exact. "After four months of research at the British National Archives from November 2004, we made a detailed study at the U.S. National Archives in May last year," he said. "The results of our meticulous research show that neither the Ottoman Empire nor today's Turkish Republic can be accused of genocide during World War I. Foreign archive documents strengthen the arguments of Turkey on this issue. Compared to the Armenian Genocide claims the statements about Assyrians can not trouble Turkey," he said, reports The New Anatolian.