Syriac and Kurdish associations in Europe and North America have sent a letter to Turkish President Erdoğan and Prime Minister Davutoğlu, calling on them to end their denial of the 1915 Genocide and restore all rights to the Christian peoples.

In the letter attention was drawn to the systematic ethnic cleansing implemented by the Committe of Union and Progress against the Christian (Armenian, Assyrian/Syriac/Chaldean and Pontus Greeks) living in Anatolia and Mesopotamia 100 years ago. Attention was also drawn to the active role played in the genocide by some Kurdish tribes.

 'Turkish state causing wounds to bleed'

The letter emphasised that while most countries responsible for genocide, massacre and crimes against humanity had confronted their past, certain countries, such as Turkey, had opted  for denial and for trying to cover up the crimes committed. .

The letter said such a stance had caused the trauma resulting from the genocide to be passed down from generation to generation, and for it to be like an open wound. 

DEMANDS:

The letter demanded that an apology be made to the Christian victims of the genocide, that all massacres that took place in the Republican period also be recognised and that all state archives be opened up. The letter also called stressed that one of the biggest obstacles preventing Turkey becoming a democracy was its persisting denial of the genocide of 1915. .

The letter was signed by 23 Syriac and Kurdish community associations in Europe and North America, including the Federation of Assyrian Youth in Sweden (AUF),  Swedish Armenian Federation, Mesopotamian Organisation of America and Kurdish Institute in Brussels.