Greece urges Turkey to come to terms with its historical record

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey must abandon its obsessions and come to terms with its historical record, a spokesperson for the Greek Foreign Ministry said, commenting on Ankara’s refusal to acknowledge the first genocide of the 20th century, Azbarez reports.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Friday, March 18 accused Greece and Armenia of demonstrating “joint hostility” towards Turkey during Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s official visit to Athens earlier this week.

Konstantinos Koutras of Greece responded to Turkey’s angry reaction to the comments made by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras about the Genocides committed by Turkey.

“Turkey appears to believe that if history does not agree with its claims, so much the worse for history,” Konstantinos Koutras of Greece said. “But this is too precarious a time for cheap and hypocritical rhetoric. Obviously, the Republic of Turkey must come to terms with its historical record. Greece will be at Turkey’s side in this difficult task.”

The Turkish spokesman, Tanju Bilgic, condemned references to the World War One-era mass killings of Armenians and Greeks in Ottoman Turkey by Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras during their meetings with Sargsyan.

At a joint news conference with the Armenian leader, Tsipras spoke of Greeks’ and Armenians’ “history of suffering and persecution,” saying that both peoples were victims of genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks. Pavlopoulos stated, in turn, that “at the beginning of the 20th century the two peoples endured tragic moments for the same reason.”

“The statements in question are the product of a pathetic mentality proving that the relations and solidarity between Greece and Armenia is built upon a joint hostility and slander against the Turkish identity,” a Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman said.