Turkey Must Apologize for Genocide Not to Armenians but to Its Own People

 February 19, 2005

"If the Turkish Republic has to apologize for the carnages of Armenians, its apologies should be addressed not to

Armenians but to Turks. The Turkish authorities concealed the truth during many years, told lies to the people thus putting 

them on serious trial, Turkish political scientist Baskin Oran stated in an interview with Radical newspaper. 

Oran, who opposes Turkey's official position on the Armenian Genocide characterized the decision on deportation of

Armenians the following way," This was a bloody cleansing initiated by young Turks against Armenians."

When touching upon the Turkish "national liberation movement" in 1920-ies, Oran called the formation of the Turkish 

Republic the consequence of the cleansing. In his words, "it became possible because Kurds joined Turks fearing 

that Armenians can return to take their property back."