Turkey to appeal to the International Court concerning the so-called Armenian genocide

He wanted Ankara to appeal to the Hague Court. "Turkey has to propose the investigation of the events of 1915 according to the requirements of UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Even if the Armenians don’t accept the proposal, it will show Turkey's moral and legal rightness and undermine political misuse of this issue," he said.

Highly appreciating his thoughts, Abdullah Gul estimated the Armenians' claims and their influence on Turkey's relations with other countries as one of the most important problems of the forthcoming 10 years. He said they do their best to uncover historical truth and mentioned that they proposed to form a commission with Armenians consisting of historians.
"Most countries supported us. Now we are trying to take other steps. We also think of appealing to the International Court. We consult both with local and foreign lawyers," he said.

Shukru Elekdag said that if the issue is investigated in the International Court, the Armenians will have to prove the genocide, but they have no historical documents to prove it.

Elekdag also explained how the issue will be investigated. He said that both sides Turkey and Armenia (of course in case Yerevan agrees to the investigation) will choose three judges, the head of the panel will be a neutral judge. The panel of judges to be composed of 7 judges will make a decision if the events happened in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 are genocide or not.

17 states have recognized the so-called Armenian genocide up to now. After the democrats, close to the Armenian lobby, won in the Congress elections Turkey is concerned about the probability of recognition of the so-called genocide by the US. APA