Cyprus-Forum.com

[Oceanside50]

"...In 1915, leaders of the Turkish government set in motion a plan to expel and massacre Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire. Though reports vary, most sources agree that there were about 2 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire at the time of the massacre. By the early 1920s, when the massacres and deportations finally ended, some 1.5 million of Turkey’s Armenians were dead, with many more forcibly removed from the country. Today, most historians call this event a genocide–a premeditated and systematic campaign to exterminate an entire people. However, the Turkish government does not acknowledge the enormity or scope of these events. Despite pressure from Armenians and social justice advocates throughout the world, it is still illegal in Turkey to talk about what happened to Armenians during this era...."




http://www.history.com/topics/armenian-genocide

[GreekIslandGirl]

The Guardian Editorial speaks volumes about how Turkey is viewed on this matter ...

The battle over the word genocide is all but won, but the official Turkish state remains in denial

It is a hard thing to admit that the state to which you belong was founded on a crime and that the history taught in your schools is full of lies. Yet there is no redemption without repentance and, on the centenary of the beginning of the genocidal campaign against the Armenians, it is sad to record that Turkey has still not faced the facts about what happened in 1915. The answer is quite simple in outline, if complex in its dreadful detail. The Armenians, who had lived in Anatolia since long before Turks arrived from central Asia, were killed, deported, or forcibly converted to Islam. Estimates suggest that at least 600,000 perished, while hundreds of thousands were expelled from or fled the Turkish lands, never to return.


Turkey has never accepted the term genocide, even though historians have demolished its denial of responsibility for up to 1.5 million deaths

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... ry-matters

[Get Real!]

What about the Ottoman genocide of the native Cypriots (1571-1878) which spanned for 307 years?

From my calculations made from population census records that go back to the 16th century, had the Ottomans never come here uninvited our native population would’ve been around 4.5 million today but instead it was less than 500,000 by the 1970s!

[repulsewarrior]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0q_JZ6bqQU

The Armenian genocide, defined as revolt. Compelling. But, i ask, what of the Kurds who soon after were betrayed as well? What of the Alevi who today, are represented through 'their' Government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs? What of the Greeks, in Turkey as well? What of Turkey, as it is today, "pure".

...Genocide is hard to prove in this case, clearly. The word Ethnic Cleansing, comes to mind, on the other hand. In my mind, it is the "Turks" who need to recognise their failings, whether there exist among Greeks, "Greeks", and "Armenians" among Armenians. They hold the Agenda in Turkey, and as such, as members of a larger Family of Man, they can do better in demonstrating a commitment to the Universal Principals all of us, in effect, are entitled to. If not, the "Turks" will divide Turkey further, there will be more bloodshed, that is to say it will not stop.

[GreekIslandGirl]

More common sense and humanity from the Guardian:

Why is the UK government so afraid to speak of Armenian genocide?

Britain’s strategic relationship with Turkey has been more important than telling the truth.

If Armenians are to find closure, we must recognise their suffering



In the early fourth century, the Armenians were the first people to adopt Christianity as their official religion. In 1914 there were 2 million Armenian Christians living in Turkey. By 1922, there were only 400,000 left. What happened to these people has been largely forgotten, or denied, or ignored – except, of course, by the Armenians themselves, who have continued to pass on their horrendous stories of rape, death squads and forced conversions.


Turkey has never accepted the term genocide, even though historians have demolished its denial of responsibility for up to 1.5 million deaths

There is no doubt what happened was genocide. The Armenians were branded as an enemy within by the Ottoman government, which used the cover of the first world war to systematically dispose of more than 1 million people, forcing great columns of humanity to march off into the Syrian desert to die of heat, starvation and disease. Speaking to his generals some 25 years later, Adolf Hitler said: “I have sent my Death’s Head units to the east with the order to kill without mercy men, women and children of the Polish race or language. Only in such a way will we win the Lebensraum that we need. Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”


Barack Obama promised to say the “g” word when he became president. But he deliberately hasn’t. And the UK government has used every manner of evasion – including trying out the preposterous argument that because the term genocide was adopted by the UN in 1948, it couldn’t be applied retrospectively. It withdrew this argument when it was pointed out that this would mean the Holocaust itself wasn’t genocide. Now the official line is one of studied avoidance.

The real answer to our avoidance of the “g” word is less than 30 miles up the road from Tarsus: the massive Incirlik airbase, used by the US air force and the RAF. From here, US and UK forces are easily deployed throughout the Middle East. Speaking in the House of Lords in 1999, Baroness Cox came clean: “Given the importance of our relationships (political, strategic, commercial) with Turkey, and that recognising the genocide would provide no practical benefit to the UK … the current line is the only feasible option.” It is worth noting that the foreign secretary at the time was Robin Cook – and remember his “ethical foreign policy” speech in 1997?

For many governments, the denial of the genocide of the Nazis is itself a crime. Yet when it comes to the Armenians, genocide avoidance (because the evidence is too unequivocal for denial) remains semi-official policy.

The very least the British government can do is to acknowledge the extent of their suffering by calling it what it is.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... n-genocide

[B25]

The Brits are well known for sucking Turkish cock, do you expect any different.

Such is their love for turkey, they are considering releasing Asil Nadir to Turkey, whereby he will be released so he can return to his stolen businesses in the trashcan. Shame, his young wife will have to give up her young soldier cock for his now

[GreekIslandGirl]

Turkey still in denial about its historic barbarity that laid the seeds for its present, continuing barbarity ....

Another step in the right direction by Germany:

BERLIN (AP) -- Germany's parliament overwhelmingly voted Thursday to label the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago as genocide, prompting Turkey to recall its ambassador to Germany.

The motion, which was put forward by Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing coalition of right and left and the opposition Greens, passed with support from all the parties in Parliament. In a show of hands, there was one abstention and one vote against.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/german-parlia ... 25962.html

The more Turkey is allowed to get away with, the more it will continue to kill Greeks and others for land-grabs.

[Zenon33]

A "european" country.

[Paphitis]

Well done Germany! Great move!