Peoples’ Democratic Congress of Turkey (HDK) issued Wednesday, December 9, a statement addressed to the Turkish state on the occasion of the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime.
Signed by HDK Co-spokespersons Sebahat Tuncel and Ertuğrul Kürkçü, the statement calls on Turkey to face its own history and apologize for perpetrating the Armenian Genocide.
“The genocide of Armenians and Assyrians committed in 1915 under the command of İttihat ve Terakki (Committee of Union and Progress) aimed to eliminate the ethnic and religious identities of Ottoman Armenians,” the HDK statement reads to further stress that the Genocide started with the arrest and deportation of Istanbul’s Armenian intellectuals on April 24, 1915. “After 100 years, Turkey continues to deny the Genocide,” the statement says.
“After 100 years, Turkey continues to deny the Genocide,” the statement says.
The authors noted that what happened to Armenians was followed by more acts of genocide.
“Peoples’ Democratic Congress reminds that Turkey is among the states that have signed the international convention on prevention of genocides. We call on Turkey to stop denying the Armenian and Assyrian genocides and apologize for crimes committed against the Ottoman nations,” the statement concludes.
