ANKARA, TurkeyTurkey on Tuesday said it was out of the question to accept a call by French President Jacques Chirac who urged Turkey over the weekend to acknowledge the mass killings of Armenians in the early 20th century as genocide. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that Chirac’s remarks during a visit to Armenia on Saturday were “met with deep grief.” Armenians claim that as many as 1.5 million of their ancestors were killed in 1915-1923 in an organized campaign to force them out of eastern Turkey and have pushed for recognition around the world of the killings as genocide. Turkey acknowledges that large numbers of Armenians died, but says the overall figure is inflated and that the deaths occurred in the civil unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. But Ankara is facing increasing pressure to fully acknowledge the killings, particularly as it seeks membership in the European Union. “Should Turkey recognize the genocide of Armenia to join the European Union?” Chirac asked, echoing a question posed by a reporter at a joint news conference with Armenian President Robert Kocharian. “Honestly, I believe so. Each country grows by acknowledging its dramas and errors of the past.” Chirac’s comments went further than in the past, using the word genocide directly for the first time. In 2004, Chirac said Turkey should recognize the killings and make “an effort at memory” to join the EU. France’s parliament has officially recognized the killings as genocide. “It is not possible to accept the definition of ‘genocide’ by the French president regarding the incidents of 1915 that took place under the conditions of World War I, and which were interpreted by many international expert historians very differently than the Armenian claims,” the Foreign Ministry statement said. The statement stressed that Armenia still had not responded to a call by Turkey to jointly investigate the incidents. It said Chirac’s remarks caused a “justified reaction,” from the Turkish public, since they gave the impression that Armenian allegations were among conditions that Turkey had to meet to join the EU. The Turkish statement also pointed out that Chirac had a very different approach regarding similar accusations against France in the past. “Last year, when his country’s practices during the time of colonialism were brought to the international agenda, President Chirac had said that ‘historical incidents should be left to historians,’ ” the Turkish statement recalled. Chirac has personally supported Turkey’s entry into the 25-nation EU, though many French have grave misgivings, fearing an influx of cheap labor and questioning Turkey’s human rights record. Meanwhile, Olli Rehn, the EU’s commissioner in charge of enlargement, said in Ankara Tuesday that recognition of the genocide was not a condition for membership. He said however that Turkey had to “tackle this kind of historic and sensitive issue.” “Only finding the truth … can bring reconciliation between the countries,” he said, adding that he welcomed Turkey’s proposal for historians to investigate the incidents.
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