Altun: Türkiye keen to build common future with Armenian citizens

Türkiye continues to build a common future with its Armenian citizens, Communications Director Fahrettin Altun has said.

"Türkiye is keen to build a common future with its Armenian citizens despite certain circles' efforts to undermine it," Altun said on Sunday in a video message at the Martyred Diplomats Exhibition organised in Vienna by Türkiye’s Communications Directorate.

"We will continue to see the history as a source of richness in order to establish common relations, and to resist forces that would exploit and use it as a tool for hate speech," he said.

Türkiye has adopted a holistic approach to the 1915 events, instead of relying on assumptions and distorting the facts, he added.

The Turkish diplomats killed by Armenian terrorists during 1970s and 1980s were remembered in the exhibition displayed in the Austrian capital Vienna.

"With this exhibition, we aim to bring the attacks of ASALA and other related terror groups to the global public opinion which they aim to legitimise by using the 1915 events as an excuse and show the real purpose of their attacks," Altun said.


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Armenian wave of terror against Turkish diplomats

According to data compiled by Anadolu Agency, a total of 77 people – 58 of them Turkish citizens, including 31 diplomats and members of their families – were killed in attacks from 1973 to 1986 carried out by ASALA and ARA terrorist groups.

The deadly campaign began in 1973 with the assassination of Türkiye's Consul General in Los Angeles Mehmet Baydar and diplomat Bahadir Demir by a terrorist named Gourgen Yanikian.

ASALA was the first Armenian terrorist group to wage war against Türkiye. It not only targeted Türkiye, but also other countries, and it became notorious for a 1975 bomb attack on the World Council of Churches' Beirut office.

The JCAG initially gained notoriety after claiming responsibility, with ASALA, for the October 22, 1975 assassination of Danis Tunaligil, Türkiye's ambassador in Vienna. The ARA is believed to be a continuation of the JCAG under a different name.

The terror campaign against Turkish diplomats is continuation of the massacres initiated by the Armenian Dashnak gangs against the Ottoman Empire’s Muslim population in the early 20th century, according to Altun.


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The events of 1915

The exhibition also focuses on Türkiye's efforts to reveal the truth and facts about the 1915 events.

Türkiye's position on the 1915 events remains that the death of Armenians in eastern Anatolia took place when some sided with invading Russians and revolted against Ottoman forces.

Türkiye objects to presenting the 1915 events as “genocide,” describing them a tragedy in which both Turks and Armenians suffered casualties.

Ankara has repeatedly proposed the creation of a joint commission of historians from Türkiye and Armenia under the supervision of international experts to examine the issue.


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