Babacan who adressed the General Assembly of the Turkish Parliament Wednesday said, "regardless of origin of these allegations, we will continue to stand by the historic truth." Babacan said U.S.
President Barrack Obama's statement on the occasion of the Armenian Remembrance Day on April 24 was a result of domestic political concerns noting that certain expressions and comments regarding the events of 1915 was unaccapetable for Turkey. "One of the shortcomings of Obama's statement was that it ignored the fact that hundres of thousands Turks lost their lives during the events of 1915," said Babacan.
"If the motive behind Obama's statement was to state a prejudgement on the joint history comittee foreseen to be formed by Turkey and Armenia, Turkish Foreign Ministry have announced on April 25 that Turkey would not accept this, and explained it in detail to the U.S. Ambassador who was invited to our Ministry," said Babacan.
Babacan said he also expressed Turkey's discomfort to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the phone and made it clear that the joint comission foreseen to be formed between the two countries could only depend on undisputed evidence and documents.
REACTIONS TO OBAMA'S ARMENIAN REMEBRANCE DAY STATEMENT
Obama's statement on April 24, "Armenian Remembrance Day" stirred wide reaction and drew severe critism from Turkey's top officials and politicians on the grounds that it was biased.
Turkey's President Abdullah Gul was the first to criticize Obama. He told reporters the following day that not only Armenians but hundreds of thousands of Turks and Muslims had lost their lives during the events of 1915, adding that pain and suffering of all people who lost their lives in 1915 should be remembered.
Gul said statesmen and politicians could not pass judgement on events in the history, adding that it was time to look to the future and give a chance to diplomatic efforts for solution of issues between Turkey and Armenia, and Armenia and Azarbaijan.
Gul was followed by Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan who argued that Obama's statement was related with a pledge he made to Armenian lobbies during his election campaign.
"Such a sensitive issue requiring expertise, which should in fact be left to historians, is continuously being used as a tool for politics and exploited by lobbies every year, and this prevents normalization of relations between people and countries," Erdogan was quoted as saying.
Parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan also criticised Obama's statement and said such statement on events of 1915, seriously harmed the process for normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia.
Turkish Foreign Ministry regarded Obama's statement unacceptable in a press release issued Sunday noting that History could be construed and evaluated only based on undisputed evidence and documents.
Also U.S. Ambassador in Ankara, James Jeffrey, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday and Turkey's reaction, and views were communicated to him
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