ERZURUM - Deputies of ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) released a joint declaration to condemn allegations of so-called Armenian genocide.
The declaration signed by Alaadin Buyukkaya, Inci Ozdemir, Muharrem Karsli, Mustafa Acikalin, Huseyin Kansu, Mehmet Sekmen, Mustafa Ilicali, Muzaffer Gulyurt, Omer Ozyilmaz, Mucahit Daloglu, Zulfu Demirbag, Mikail Arslan, Imdat Sutluoglu, Halil Kaya, Vahit Kirisci and Fikret Badasli expressed regret over allegations saying that 1.5 million Armenian people were killed intentionally during their transfer under the Relocation Law of the Ottoman Empire.
''Although these imaginary allegations were refuted with excavations and documents, some circles have still been defending them. These circles have been trying to mislead the public opinion. Despite all good-will initiatives of our government, Armenian diaspora and Armenian government have been continuing to defame history of Turkish people. A few days ago, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan said, 'on numerous occasions, we put forward our view. Historians have already explained their thoughts. Now, Turkey should clarify its attitude.' In fact, he meant to say that they succeeded in making the world accepted that they were exposed to a so-called genocide with falsified information,'' it said.
The declaration strongly condemned and rejected such allegations.