Once again, Turkey showed its real image and did immoral and shameful acts, without learning lessons from history and the present and not wanting to join the civilized world. Instead of criticizing its shameful acts committed in the past and restoring the historical truth, Turkey distorted the history again and showed its hypocrisy and reaffirmed the fact that lack of awareness its own sins has become a moral quality and a state policy for the country.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan’s message ahead of April 24^th which, the Prime Minister believed was a message of condolence to the Armenian people has already been sharply criticized by Armenian religious leaders, as well as state and political figures. Of course, some rushed to state that the Turkish authorities have changed their mindset and have finally decided to tell the truth and talk about the Genocide. Moreover, some Western commentators, including several U.S. State Department officials commended Erdogan’s statement and viewed it as a step forward in the Armenian-Turkish relations. However, Erdogan once again denied the Genocide and is turning the issue of Genocide into a matter of bargain, viewing the state policy on ethnic cleansing of a nation as “events” that took place during WWI and that those “events” harmed the Armenians, Kurds, Arabs, Greeks and others…This means that there was no plan, there were no decisions of the Ittihat and there were no mass deportations…Recep Tayyib Erdogan, relying on the Turks’ ideas of establishing falsehood and disorientating the public, distorted the reality and set forth issues for dialogue and restarting discussion on the historical facts.

This shameful act of Erdogan is only after misleading the international community, denying the Armenian Genocide and create the image that the Turkish government protects the interests of the ethnic minorities living in the country and even expresses condolences to the Armenians and other nations…This means that erdogan is avoiding recognition of the international crime and is making the situation connected to the Genocide more complicated.

The U.S. State Department’s response to commend the Prime Minister’s statement goes to show that U.S. State Department officials had previously discussed this statement and that Obama and Erdogan had decided to conceal the greatest crime that the U.S. President and the Turkish government still don’t want to recognize. The official rejection of the Resolution passed by the U.S. Senate ahead of April 24^th and Erdogan’s statement are directly linked, and this goes to show that the U.S. and Turkey have a new political deal, but it will rarely be possible to conceal what happened and avoid moral and historical responsibility. It’s impossible to talk about dialogue again when Armenia gave Turkey the chance for dialogue and expressed willingness to discuss the Genocide and Armenian-Turkish relations in detail. By using machinations and by disorientating, the official Ankara did everything possible to make sure that the Armenian-Turkish dialogue enters a labyrinth in order to conceal the real facts of the Genocide and help Turkey avoid taking responsibility. This statement by Erdogan is shameful and is a new manifestation of cynicism. Erdogan’s “condolence” is simply the expression of Turkey’s interests and the nationalism in Turkey. There will be resistance, and Armenian Americans and the progressive forces in Turkey are already discussing it.

Levon Mutafyan