24.07.07

The Prime Minister of Turkey Receb Tayyip Erdogan has prohibited to use the expression "the so-called Armenian Genocide" in the country. The news of this "secret" directive was made public on July 19 by Turkish "Ulusal Kanal" TV and its website and reposted on several other news sites since then. According to Ulusal Kanal, the Turkish government, on July 3, sent a circular letter to all Turkish ministries, structures attached to them, governors' offices, municipalities, the Higher Education Council, judicial bodies. Turkish denialists reacted angrily to this decree, accusing the Prime Minister of undermining their efforts against the congressional resolution on the Armenian Genocide. Turkish officials and reporters never fail to refer to the Armenian Genocide as the �so-called� or �alleged� genocide, thus casting doubt on the mass killings of Armenians by the Turkish government from 1915 to 1923. According to Erdogan�s decree, henceforth the Armenian Genocide should be described in official statements and public discourse as the �events of 1915� or �Armenian allegations regarding the events of 1915�. Ulusal Kanal explained that the Council of Europe had called on Turkey to refrain from using certain disparaging words and phrases in referring to Armenians and Greeks in Turkish textbooks.