Turkish lawyers issue apology for Armenian Genocide

April 10, 2015 - 08:57 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - A conference focused to the denial of the Armenian Genocide has angered several Turkish lawyers from Izmir, who have responded by issuing an apology for Armenians over the crime perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the 20th century.

According to Asbarez, the local branch of the Association of Modern Lawyers said that the alliance of lawyers responsible for establishing justice in Turkey is sure that what happened in the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923 was a crime of Genocide committed under the pretext of deportation.

The authors of the statement noted that there were also lawyers among the Armenians arrested and exiled to death in 1915.

“We, as lawyers from Izmir, will not allow that the crimes and the genocide committed against the Armenians be consigned to oblivion. We apologize to the Armenian people on behalf of our organization,” the statement reads.

The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres and deportations, involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, Italy, 45 U.S. states, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Canada, Poland, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Venezuela, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.