Dutch Historian: Modern Turkey Founders' Had Blood on Their Hands

PanARMENIAN.Net - On October 14 Channel 1of the Dutch Public Television broadcast a program titled "Dutch historians on the Armenian Genocide" with participation of Ton Zwaan, a Dutch historian, specialist for genocide and holocaust studies, from the University of Amsterdam and Erik Jan Zürcher historian, specialized in Turkish history, from the University of Leiden. As the Federation of the Armenian Organizations of Netherlands told PanARMENIAN.Net pictures of Armenian Genocide victims by Armin Wegener were screened. The audience was presented the letter of the German Ambassador dated July 7, 1915 from a book republished by W.Gust. "Germany and Turkey were allies and therefore, there were many German military people, consuls and missionaries stationed in Turkey and they saw with their own eyes what happened there." Ton Zwaan said.



"New research is always interesting but mainly for historians who want to know more about the details. The facts are generally known. So why does Turkey still deny?" the presenter asked. "Many people, who played an important role in the development of modern Turkey, had blood on their hands. They were themselves involved in the extermination of the Armenians. For the modern Turkish state this is a painful part of their history," E.J. Zürcher's answer was.