The Turkish leadership had yet not managed to get a grip from the statement issued by Pope Francis on the Armenian Genocide when they were forced to go through another nightmare. On April 15, the EU Parliament adopted a special resolution on the Armenian Genocide Centennial that was negotiated over and agreed on by all political groups.

The EU Parliament with 28 member states and a population of around 500 million people recognized that the events against the Armenians in the territory of the Ottoman Empire represent a genocide as defined in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948. 

According to the press release of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, this resolution encountered strong resistance from the Turkish lobby, which aimed to distort the political message the bill entailed and involve elements of denial in it. 

“The adoption of the resolution was possible owing to the consistent position of the members of the European Parliament as well as the coordinated work of the Armenian Delegation to the EU, National Assembly’s Committee on Foreign Relations, Armenian National Committee of Europe and European Friends of Armenia NGO,” noted the press release of the Armenian Foreign Ministry.

The statements recently made by the representatives of official Ankara attest to the panic the ruling Turkish leadership feels over the process of the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide. I have singled out the most much-talked-of parts of those statements.

Erdogan’s old song on “deporting Armenians”

When leaving for Kazakhstan before the adoption of the resolution by the EU Parliament, President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan told journalists that “Turkey retains the right to deport the roughly 100,000 citizens of the Republic of Armenia who live and work in Turkey.”

“We can deport them, even if we haven't yet,” said Erdogan.

This is not the first time that Erdogan has brought up the deportation threat for Armenians. He expressed the same idea back in 2010 and asked the Armenian Diaspora to act responsively and to stop the process of the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, otherwise he promised to deport Armenians living and working in Turkey.

Ankara tells European countries to encounter “their own past”

Immediately after the adoption of the resolution by the EU Parliament, the Foreign Ministry of Turkey issued an official statement accusing the Members of the European Parliament of an attempt to rewrite history regarding the 1915 events.

“We do not take seriously those who adopted this resolution by mutilating history and law. This selective and one-sided approach of the European Parliament with regards to the 1915 events has the potential to harm the relations between Turkey and EU and falls far behind from bringing a solution to the issue between Turkey and Armenia,” reads the Turkish Foreign Ministry’s press release.

Ankara recommended Members of the European Parliament encounter their own past and remember especially their roles and responsibilities in the most abhorrent calamities of humanity such as World War I and World War II, well before dealing with the 1915 issue.

Davutoglu’s “theory of plots”

Touching upon the statement of Pope Francis Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu accused the pontiff of joining “plots” against Turkish Justice and Development Party (AK Party).

“An axis of evil is being created against us. An axis whose entire motivation is to hinder the AK Party is being formed. The Pope has joined these plots against the AK Party and Turkey,” stated Davutoglu.

According to him, there are attempts to “convict” Turkey on the basis of “extremely unjust accusations” just ahead of the June 7 parliamentary election.

“I am addressing the Pope. Those who escaped the Genocide carried out by the Catholic world in Spain via the Inquisition found peace and safety in our just system. We are ready to look into everything but we will not let our nation be insulted over history. We will not allow Turkey to be blackmailed through historical debates,” said Davutoglu.

Yekaterina Poghosyan is a journalist at Mediamax.