‘Genocide Monument’ Tensions With US After Israel

After Israel, Türkiye is also experiencing a “genocide memorial” crisis with the US.

The “Armenian Genocide Memorial” crisis erupted on the Turkey-Israel line, where relations recently normalized. The construction of a monument to those who lost their lives in the events of 1915 in Haifa, Israel’s third largest city, after the municipality accepted the “So-called Armenian Genocide” two months ago, sparked a crisis on the Ankara line -Tel Aviv.

Turkey’s ambassador to Israel, Şakir Özkan Torunlar, sent a letter to Haifa Mayor Kalisch-Rotem, saying, “This situation has the potential to worsen the relations that the peoples and governments of Israel and Turkey hope to develop,” and demanded that the decision be reversed. .

Türkiye OBJECT BY LETTER

After Israel, a similar plan in the United States also created tensions. Turkey’s Consul General in Los Angeles, Sinan Kuzum, has sent a letter to the city council about the planned “Armenian Genocide” memorial in Irvine, California.

On February 28, the Irvine City Council unanimously approved the construction of a genocide memorial at the initiative of the American Armenian National Committee (ANCA) and the Armenian community.

Los Angeles Consul General Sinan Kuzum, who opposed the Irvine City Council’s decision to erect an “Armenian Genocide Memorial” in the Great Park, said that after the earthquakes that struck Kahramanmaraş and the surrounding area on February 6, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan Recalling his visit to Turkey and Yerevan attendance, he said: “We are disappointed that this spirit has not reached Irvine or has been deliberately ignored for the sake of petty political calculations.” .

Consul General Kuzum said: “I am of the opinion that this planned project will not help. “This bill will discriminate, isolate and disappoint Turkish Americans,” he said.

It is claimed that there was no response to Sinan Kuzum’s letter from the Irvine City Council.

The Orange County unit of the Armenian National Committee of America, on the other hand, made a statement yesterday on its Facebook page announcing that they have established a commission to work with the City of Irvine “despite the sabotage efforts of the Consul General from Turkey”. .

BIDEN USES THE EXPRESSION ‘GENOCIDE’

United States President Joe Biden first used the term “genocide” on April 24, 2022, the anniversary of the 1915 events. Biden became the first United States president to use the term ” genocide” since Ronald Reagan, who used the same word in his 1981 statement.

In October and December 2019, the House of Representatives and the Senate had also adopted draft resolutions that defined the events of 1915 as “genocide.”