Turkey will recognise the 1915 Armenian massacre as genocide “over our dead bodies,” Turkish ambassador to Georgia Ceren Yazgan tweeted on Friday.
The ambassador’s tweet was a response to a call from the Istanbul branch of Turkey’s Human Rights Association (İHD) for the Turkish government to recognise the 1915 Armenian genocide. The İHD request is an annual practice done every April 24, on Armenian Remembrance Day.
“Never. Over our dead bodies,” the ambassador tweeted. “They killed us to accept a sin which (is) not ours,” she said, referring to the series of assassinations of Turkish diplomats by the Armenian militant group ASALA between 1975 and 1984 as she later clarified in another tweet.
Diana Yayloyan, a researcher from the think tank Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey, had earlier posted on Twitter İHD’s call for recognition, apology and compensation of the genocide.
“We owe noone (sic) nothing, won’t give up what is ours,” Yazgan said. “We don’t want anything of anyone either. But we all owe all our children peace.”
The ambassador’s response came as U.S. politicians expressed support for genocide recognition efforts.
Most international scholars recognise the events starting in 1915 as a genocide; Turkey, however, admits that massacres took place but rejects the term genocide.
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