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2.12 Turkey condemns France and Italy’s official recognition of genocide against Armenians
Turkey on April 11 strongly condemned the decisions of France and Italy to officially recognise the mass killings of Armenians a century ago as a genocide. French President Emmanuel Macron the previous day signed a decision that set April 24 as a day of annual commemoration. The same day Italy’s lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, approved a motion to officially recognise the killings as genocide. The spat will not help in getting Turkey’s longstanding bid to progress its bid to join the European Union back on the rails. It was essentially derailed last year because of Brussels’ objections to the way Ankara deals with the human rights of Turks. Turkey, partly in solidarity with its neighbour Azerbaijan, which is locked in an unresolved conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh breakaway territory, does not have diplomatic relations with Armenia.
Turkey accepts that many Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War One. However, it disputes the figures and denies that the killings were systematic and constituted a genocide.
Turning to the vote in the Italian lower house, the Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned the step, describing it also as an example of using Armenian claims for domestic political interests.
“It is not surprising that this motion was drafted by the Lega Party, led by Matteo Salvini, who is committed to sabotaging relations between Turkey and Italy,” the statement said.
2.13 Erdogan: Ousting of al-Bashir in Sudan a coup against Turkey
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is labelling military intervention in Sudan a coup “against Turkey” , Al-Monitor reported on April 18. Erdogan has long embraced now-ousted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir as his “brother”, despite the warrant issued in 2010 by the International Criminal Court for Bashir's arrest on a series of genocide charges.
Turkey’s pro-government media claim that Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were behind the coup and pro-government circles in Turkey reportedly say the trio's intervention serves American and Israeli interests in the region and was triggered by the growing ties between Turkey and Sudan, as well as Turkey’s increasing influence in the Horn of Africa.
Pro-government Turkish daily Yeni Safak wrote April 12 that the trio had offered financial assistance to Sudan if it would sever its ties with Turkey, but Bashir turned the offer down. That, the paper reported, led to the three countries helping to engineer the coup.
34 TURKEY Country Report May 2019 www.intellinews.com