ANKARA (A.A) - 20.04.2002 - State Minister Sukru Sina Gurel said on Saturday, ''Turkey and Turks have not showed enough interest in Armenian question and Armenian studies. Therefore, extremist groups have undertaken this mission.''
Speaking at the opening of two-day Armenian Studies Turkey Congress organized by Institute for Armenian Studies in Ankara, Gurel said, ''a number of books and articles were published in many countries in which also Armenians live, in order to prove that relocation of Armenians in 1915 was a genocide.''
''This allegation has been supported by organizing a number of international symposiums, conferences and meetings. Number of such books and articles published in foreign countries in the last fifteen years is incomparably higher than number of books and articles published in Turkey on the issue. As a result, it is not surprising that public opinions of some countries adopted easily efforts to accuse Turkey of a crime against humanity like genocide,'' he said.
Gurel noted, ''the year 1915 in the World War I was an extremely difficult year for the Ottoman Empire. Nearly 500 thousand Turkish soldiers lost their lives in Canakkale and Sarikamis. Millions of our citizens either lost their properties or died in epidemics, attacks of gangs and extremely difficult living conditions. Children who are the future of the country, lost their lives because of warfare and shortage of food. Turks lost not only their people but also their empire in the war. They were about to lose their independence. In a geography suffering from starvation and war, Armenians also lost their people. While Turks were trying to heal their wounds, some extremist Armenian gangs dreaming to found great Armenia dragged their people into calamity.''
''In today's world, extremist Armenian groups have still been resorting to unacceptable methods, and causing damage to both Turks and Armenians. We regret that they also prevent friendly relations between Turkish and Armenian peoples,'' he added.