23/03/2015 13:40
Turkey accuses Armenians of not seeking 'truth' but to score points over 1915 massacres
Turkey's president says Armenians pressing Turkey to recognize the century-old massacres of Armenians as genocide are not looking for the truth but to score points against his country. The Greenfield reporter reports.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday Armenians had rejected numerous Turkish calls for joint research to document precisely what happened.
Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey rejects the term "genocide," says the death figure is inflated and that people died on both sides.
Erdogan said: "Their aim is not to search for the truth, but to attack Turkey and cause it harm."
Armenians mark the centenary of the killings on April 24.