By Jonathan Lis - Haaretz
Knesset members
speak out despite the government's efforts to achieve a detente with Turkey.
Both coalition and
opposition members Tuesday commemorated the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman
Turks, despite Israel’s efforts to patch things up with Turkey over the raid on
the Gaza flotilla three years ago in which eight Turkish nationals died.
During and after
World War I, between 1 million and 1.5 million Armenians died; the anniversary
of the killings is marked this week. Because of Jerusalem's
past close relations with Ankara,
the government has never officially recognized the events as genocide.
“How many of us
are really familiar with the Armenian holocaust? Why are we indifferent when Turkey does not
take responsibility?” said MK Ayelet Shaked (Habayit Hayehudi). “We must
confront our silence and that of the world in the face of such horrors. No
country stood by the Armenians. No one cared about the genocide in Rwanda.” (...)
