ISTANBUL - An influential employers` association in Turkey has released a report on an Armenian bill regarding the incidents of 1915, which was adopted last year by the Committee on Foreign Relations of the U.S. House of Representatives but was turned down by the general assembly.
The report, drawn up by researcher and specialist in law David Saltzman for the Turkish Industrialists` & Businessmen`s Association (TUSIAD), was presented on Thursday at a Washington conference on Turkish-U.S. relations.
The report, "U.S. House of Representatives Resolution 106: Legal and Factual Deficiencies," said that there had never been a legal opinion that can justify the 1915 incidents as "genocide", and those who contended the allegations had never brought them before an international court.
"The global public opinion is focused on this one-sided view. And the rejection to acknowledge facts and the failure to consider the historical background of the incidents help this view attain a continuity," the report said.
Turkey has long been facing a systematic campaign of defamation carried out by Armenian lobby groups. The Armenian diaspora has lately increased its organized activities throughout the world for the acknowledgment of their unfounded allegations in regard to the incidents of 1915 as "genocide" by national and local parliaments.
In 2005, Turkey has officially proposed to the Armenian government the establishment of a joint commission of historians and other experts from both sides to study the incidents. Armenia has yet to respond positively to this initiative. Turkey`s proposal is still on the table.
(YMB-ULG)