Posted on 11/23/2011 3:25:18 PM PST by nickcarraway
The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has apologised for the killing of more than 13,000 Kurds by the Turkish military in the late 1930s.
He is the first Turkish leader to make the apology.
The killings occurred when the army crushed a Kurdish rebellion in Dersim, using aerial bombings and poison gas.
The apology comes at a time of tension between Turkey and its minority Kurdish population.
Mr Erdogan made the unexpected apology during a meeting of party officials in the Turkish capital Ankara.
"If there is need for an apology on behalf of the state, if there is such a practice in the books, I would apologise and I am apologising," Mr Erdogan said in remarks which were televised.
The BBC's Jonathan Head in Istanbul says there are many dark chapters in Turkey's history, which have remained closed to its citizens, but now the prime minister has opened one of them, by offering the apology on behalf of the Turkish state.
Sensitive issue Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote
Dersim is the most tragic event in our recent history. It is a disaster that should now be questioned with courage.”
The killings took place between 1936 and 1939 when the Kurdish population of the south-eastern region of Dersim - now known as Tunceli - resisted the efforts of the newly formed Turkish republic to exert its authority there.
Our correspondent says the incident laid some of the foundations for today's Kurdish insurgency against the state.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
now, come clean on the Armenian genocide, Turkey!
I would not be surprised if the PM doers exactly that in the near future. His apology on this is a major leap for the Turkish gov't.
Big time CYA if Turkey plans to attack the Alawite Regime and Assad arms the Kurds in Turkey ! ?
From some things I’ve read, supposedly Obama and Erdogan are best buds and talk all the time. An apology for 1930’s killing of Kurds could easily have been our feces-for-brains POTUS making a suggestion such as this.
It’s a start. But the list is long. Here are few highlights:
Chios 1822—50,000 Greeks
Mosul 1850—10,000 Assyrians
Lebanon 1860—12,000 Maronites
Bulgaria 1876—15,000
Sassun 1894—12,000 Armenians
Armenia 1895-6—150,000
Macedonia 1904—15,000
Adada 1909—30,000 Armenians
Armenia 1915-16—over 1 million
Cilicia 1920—10,000 Armenians
Smyrna and elsewhere 1922—100,000 Greeks and Armenians
Let the apologies begin.
Easy to apologize to fellow Muslims. I doubt the same will be extended to Christians.
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