ANKARA - Turkish parliament decided on Wednesday to protest the Polish parliament's resolution on so-called Armenian genocide allegations.
Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc sent a letter to his Polish counterpart Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, condemning this resolution adopted on April 19th, while Polish parliamentarians' visit to Turkish parliament was cancelled.
Members of the Polish-Turkish Interparliamentary Friendship Group were scheduled to visit Turkey between May 25th and 30th.
On the other hand, Turkish parliament decided not to send a representative to the ''parliamentary marathon and semi-marathon championships'' held in Poland. Two parliamentarians were expected to represent Turkey in this event.
''A VERY UNFORTUNATE DEVELOPMENT''
In the letter he sent to Cimoszewics, Arinc expressed his sorrow and disappointment with approval of the resolution by the Polish parliament.
Arinc wrote in his letter, ''our nation has felt deep sorrow over a friendly parliament's biased interpretation of the tragic incidents that occurred between the Turks and Armenians under the circumstances of the World War I. We can't accept use of those days as a tool for political intentions, which would cause prejudices against Turkey and Turkish people.''
''National parliaments are not the appropriate places of making judgments about disputable days of history. I think that parliaments should exert efforts to create atmospheres which will enable improvement of friendship and cooperation among nations and countries (instead of acting this way),'' said Arinc.
Noting that Turkey had always argued that disputable historical periods should be assessed and examined by historians, Arinc said that therefore, Turkey had opened its archives to all researchers.
Arinc stated that Turkey had also proposed Armenia to form a joint committee comprised of Turkish and Armenian historians which would examine the 1915 incidents in all the related archives.
Drawing attention that Turkish parliament had issued a statement and supported this proposal, Arinc said, ''despite these bona fide initiatives of our country, the resolution adopted by the Polish parliament has been a very unfortunate development regarding our bilateral relations. It is not possible to link this resolution to the long friendly relations between our nations.''