If Armenain "genocide" proven, Turkey will apologize, says Bagis

Turkey's Minister for European Affairs and chief EU negotiator Egemen Bagis on Saturday said if claims that the 1915 deportation of Anatolian Armenians constituted "genocide" could be historically and scientifically substantiated, Turkey would apologize for it. As a guest on "Talk to Al Jazeera," one of the most popular programs on the Al Jazeera English-language news station, Bagis said Turkey would apologize if the Armenian "genocide" was proven both historically and scientifically. Responding to extensive questions regarding whether the Turkish government would recognize the 1915 incidents as "genocide," Bagis said, "If it is recognized as a reality approved both historically and scientifically, moreover, unanimously, then why not?" He noted that every nation has dark moments in its history, asking, "Would you be able to name a nation without any dark chapters or pains in its past?" He also noted that to prove if the incident amounted to "genocide" or not, first the disputed issue needs to be examined objectively. However, he said the Armenian government was not brave enough to confront its own history, as it refuses to disclose its historical archives. Recalling the Armenian government's rejection of a Turkish proposal to publicly discuss the archived documents from both sides and document every historian's discussion about the events and also their research, Bagis said, "Unfortunately, the Armenian government lacks the courage to accept this suggestion." Referring to a bill adopted recently by the French Senate that makes it a crime to deny that the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 in Anatolia amounted to genocide, Bagis said the bill was "null and void" for Turkey. Armenia claims the 1915 deportation of Armenians by the Ottomans was a genocide in which 1.5 million Armenians were killed and says the incident was an act of ethnic cleansing, wanting it to be internationally recognized as genocide. Turkey, which sees the allegations of genocide as a threat to its national honor, meanwhile, says the killings were not intentionally perpetrated to eradicate a particular ethnicity but were the result of the wartime conditions during World War I. Turkey also notes that both Muslim and non-Muslims died during the event.