The Turkish mass media and politicians are tensely awaiting whether US President George Bush will use term “genocide” in his traditional commemoration message on April 24. According to German media, if George Bush states the atrocities of 1915 as “genocide” it will be an infamous defeat of Turkey at the international arena. The word “elimination” President Bush used last year is more admissible for Turks than the term “genocide”. Even after 90 years after the Genocide when 1.5 million people were slaughtered the subject is still tabooed in Turkey. Presently Armenia and Turkey have no diplomatic relations, the common border is closed and only an air communication between Istanbul and Yerevan has been established recently. Turkey’s relations with France and Switzerland fell in the turbulent zone, as the parliaments of these states have officially recognized the Armenian Genocide. The EU officials urge Turkey to revert to the past. When addressing the German parliamentarians Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul stated that the adoption of the resolution on the Genocide will damage the Turkish-German relations. Turkey’s answer to the demand of many states to recognize the Genocide is an attempt with the help of published documents to present events taken place at the beginning of the 20-th century as defense operations essential in the conditions of the First World War. Moreover the documents published by the Turkish Headquarters distort the history. They record that Armenians themselves assaulted Turks. With all this anti-Armenian propaganda in Turkey achieves full speed.
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