Turkey lashes out at US president

Sun Apr 24, 2011 9:15PM

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu Turkey has denounced US President Barack Obama's remarks on the Ottoman-era alleged killings of Armenians as "one-sided political characterization of history."

In an annual message marking the 96th anniversary of the alleged "massacre of the Armenians" during World War I, Obama used the term "Meds Yeghern" or "Great Disaster" to describe the incidents of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire, and urged "full" acknowledgment of the "horrific events."

"We wished that the president of the United States, our friend and ally, had shared the pain of the Turks as well and issued a message… with a fresh perspective," AFP quoted Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as saying on Sunday.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry also said in a statement that Obama's message "distorts the historical facts. Therefore, we find it very problematic and deeply regret it… one-sided statements that interpret controversial historical events by a selective sense of justice prevent understanding of the truth."

Meanwhile, Turkish Ambassador to the US Namik Tan criticized Obama, saying the US president's statement "reflect an inaccurate, flawed [and] one-sided political characterization of history."

Yerevan claims that that up to 1.5 million Armenians lost their lives during and just after the World War I, when they were deported en masse from eastern Anatolia by the Ottoman Empire.

They were reportedly killed by troops or died from starvation and disease, prompting Armenians to launch a campaign for the killings to be internationally recognized as genocide.

Obama on Sunday stopped short of labeling the killings as "genocide," despite vowing to use that exact term during his 2008 run for the White House.

Turkey, however, disputes the Armenian figures and account of the incident, putting the figure of Armenian victims at 300,000 to 500,000 and insisting that as many Ottoman Turks were also killed in the civil unrest during the Ottoman Empire's collapse.

In 2009, Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols in an effort to normalize relations and end decades of animosity.