Turkish parliament Speaker Omer Izgi stated that "Armenians' assertions about the so-called Armenian genocide are not valid, as in the course of all of its history Turkey has shown tolerance towards them." The council on cultural, art and press affairs of the Great National Council of Turkey has issued a book "Armenians in the latest period of the Ottoman Empire," in the preface to which Omer Izgi noted that at the time Armenians had occupied important posts in the state structures of Turkey. He also noted that Turks had never oppressed Armenians and thus "assertions about genocide do not have real grounding."