Turkey Denies Report on Cancellation of Gallipoli Commemoration Events

Sources close to the Turkish government have denied the Sunday’s Zaman report that claimed the Gallipoli commemoration events have been canceled, according to Daily Sabah. “Sources from both the Presidency and Prime Ministry have refuted the claims that the commemorations have been canceled, refraining from offering further details over how many and which countries will participate in the Gallipoli centennial commemoration,” reported Sabah, which highlighted Zaman’s link to the Gulen Movement.

Sunday’s Zaman on Feb. 21 reported that the ceremonies to mark the centennial of the Gallipoli campaign of World War I had been canceled, citing the low number of heads of states who had agreed to visit Ankara for the ceremonies, which were scheduled to take place on April 24—Armenian Genocide Commemoration Day.

The paper quoted a government official, who wished to remain anonymous, as saying, “The Gallipoli celebrations have been canceled. All preparations have been suspended as the number of RSVPs to the invitation is not positive. Only five countries have accepted the invitation and they will not be represented by high-level officials.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had sent official invitations to more than 100 world leaders, including Armenian President Serge Sarkisian, to take part in the ceremonies. The date designated for these commemoration events—April 24—created uproar among Armenians worldwide, while Turkish human rights groups urged world leaders to boycott the Gallipoli events.

On Jan. 16, Sarkisian responded to Erdogan’s invitation to Turkey in a strongly worded letter. “Turkey continues its conventional denial policy and is perfecting its instrumentation for distorting history. This time, Turkey is marking the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli on April 24, even though the battle began on March 18, 1915 and lasted until late January 1916, while the Allies’ operation started on April 25,” he wrote, adding, “What is the purpose [of this] if not to distract the world’s attention from the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide?”

9 Comments

  1. Armenians both in Armenia and more importantly in diaspora MUST protest and start a rigorous campaign to prevent their representatives from attending the event. If we want to learn from history, we’ll see that the only thing that saved the Jews in 1914/1915 and in 1917 from deportation and having the same fate as that of Armenians was the pressure the Jewish diaspora put on the officials of the countries of their residence. Therefore it is up to us in diaspora to act.

    • I totally agree with you. However it is a very hard debate to be had when ones own countrys government doesn’t even recognise that a genocide has taken place!!

    • Many US government officials, as well as US presidents, have recognized and do recognize the Armenian Genocide privately and among the reasons why the US government shies away from making an official and public statement about this recognition is because, at least in my opinion, the following:

      1. The fascist state of Turkey is the ONLY Muslim country in the world that is part of the Christian club called NATO.

      2. The United States is still heavily reliant on fossil fuel and needs free access to Middle Eastern oil and, as a result of this dependency, it has to have continuous presence, militarily in particular, in that part of the world to guarantee the uninterrupted flow of this precious commodity to its shores. Having lost credibility around the world, mainly because of double-standards and unwavered support of the state of Israel, and having been kicked out of formerly friendly countries in that region, Turkey is perhaps one of the few, if not the only, remaining countries there in which US still has and maintains military bases and uses the Turkish soil as one of its important bases of military operations in that part of the world.

      3. The cunning Turkish leaders being opportunistic and well aware of the US dependency on “their” soil bribe, blackmail and threaten to close US bases if US comes clean, in support of the Armenians, and officially recognizes the Armenian Genocide.

      4. There is a new player in town, as they say, in the region with plenty but dwindling oil reserves the US government and major US and western oil companies can exploit and that is the pseudo-Turkish and artificial state of Azerbaijan. This autocratic and fake state, a mere gas-station disguised as a country, inserts pressure on the US government and its allies through petrodollar bribes and through its genocidal NATO-member Turkish masters next door.

      5. The United States seems to find itself engaged in wars, some illegal and fabricated, once every decade or so and pretty much just about always in that part of the world and is reluctant to risk losing its badly-needed military bases in Turkey and right in the middle of the Middle Eastern conflict zones.

      6. Foreign agents with major influences on US government foreign policy makers and in bed with Armenian adversaries sabotage the painstaking Armenian efforts and derail the Armenian Genocide recognition off its course and on behalf of our enemies in return for their own self-interests.

      7. Former and retired US government officials handsomely-paid by the enemies of the Armenian nation for their services and expertise, and using their political know-how, influence US government officials and their former dishonest colleagues against the Armenian Genocide resolutions in favor of our Turkish enemy.

      8. The list goes on…

  2. I’ll have to reconsider my previous post saying that there is a God. We’ll now have to wait until April 24 to really find out.

  3. Remember that the Zaman newspaper is Gulen’s.
    Gulen and Erdogan are foes these days.
    Zaman may just be trying to embarrass Erdogan.
    I don’t think Turkey would call off an event it holds every year, but it may be having a hard time getting world leaders to show up.
    And why should they? The event is absurd. There is no point to it.

  4. This stupidity of Turkey to celebrate Gallipoli on the Armenian Genocide day is the best gift destiny could offer to Armenians, finally we will figure out which countries are 100 per cent in this issue of denial with Turkey,hypocrisy will reach its end. Those countries that will be in Istanbul instead of Erevan will be uncoverred withoud any shade of doubt, and these are the accomplices of the Genocide and its denial. Complicity that for sure does not starts now, in fact countries that still use ephimenism instead of using the real word Genocide,are known also for their highly partecipation in the assassination of the Armenian race e.g. Germany, United Kingdom and even other countries that maybe can not be mentioned on Armenianweekly, some of which were even not created yet like Saudi Arabia etc….readers can figure out by themselves who are these pseudo friendly countries … it is enough toselect them amid powerful countries that even after 100 YEARS still finds excuses, insult to oyr intelligence, in order to justify why they do not recognize the Armenian Genocide. Thanks Erdogan Armenians thanks to your trap will finally open their eyes.

  5. Before the Turks have anymore denials, let us as Christians always keep in mind the Armenian Genocide of 1915 -21. Murder, rape and pillage was the typical action of Ottoman TURKEY, followed by Mustafa Kemal Attaturk also a fanatical Muslim. Turkey must be forced to pay for its crime against humanity as the Nazi Germans paid for the Holocaust. You may hide your crimes, but those who died still call for punishment of the guilty. R.I.P.

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