Türkiye: 1915 events being manipulated with baseless allegations

The events of 1915, in the waning years of the Ottoman Empire, during World War I, are being dishonestly distorted and reshaped for use as ugly political fodder, Türkiye’s Communications Director Fahrettin Altun has said.

Those events have been “manipulated and distorted with groundless and baseless allegations for the service of dirty political ambitions,” Altun told a conference on Wednesday in the capital Ankara on the events of 1915 through the lens of international law and history, held by Türkiye’s Communications Directorate. 

The centuries-long peaceful coexistence and common history of Turks and Armenians is something “unique” in history, he explained.

“We should never allow our common history to be forgotten, and we should stand against those who are trying their best to instigate and plant the seeds of instigation as the sons and daughters of those lands,” said Altun.

Stressing that these two peoples shared their “joy and pain” together throughout history, Altun stressed: “We should never allow our common history to be politicised for hostile, dirty political ambitions.” 

“Many Western countries” are trying to exploit the 1915 events for their own national and foreign interests, “which in itself is the manifestation of a bullying and patronising approach towards our country,” he said. 

“Those matters have turned into a source of earning for many politicians and a tool for political gain,” he underscored.

READ MORE: Erdogan: Turkey will continue to defend truth about 1915 events

Resolving conflicts through dialogue

Calling distorting the realities of war “a great injustice and even betrayal of the whole globe and all of humanity,” Altun decried the “separation and disconnection of the historical facts from reality.”

Underlining Türkiye’s efforts for scholarly research to demonstrate the facts to the world, Altun said Ankara is still waiting for its call to be answered. 

Türkiye “will never give in” on the issue, he stated, adding that instead it seeks to “resolve conflicts and problems with neighbours through dialogue” in the current day, just as in the past. 

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

A subsequent relocation of Armenians resulted in numerous casualties. 

Türkiye objects to the presentation of these incidents as "genocide," describing them as a tragedy in which both sides suffered casualties.

Ankara has repeatedly proposed the creation of a joint commission of historians from Türkiye and Armenia as well as international experts to tackle the issue. 

In 2014, Recep Tayyip Erdogan – then prime minister, now president – expressed condolences to the descendants of Armenians who lost their lives in the events of 1915.

READ MORE: Armenian community leader criticises instrumentalisation of 1915 events