Mahçupyan: I am not a nationalist, but what happened was genocide
Senior Advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Etyen Mahçupyan has declared that he considers the events of 1915 as genocide.
As Armenpress reports, citing the Turkish Haberler.com, this is what Mahçupyan talked about during a roundtable discussion on “Understanding Change: The Era of JDP in Turkey” in London.
He reiterated the statement that he had made in Belgium, stating that even though he is Armenian, he considers himself an Ottoman. “As I said yesterday, I feel more like an Ottoman than an Armenian. I am not a nationalist, but I use the term “Armenian Genocide” when touching upon the topic of the genocide of 1915. I believe what happened was genocide since there is a clear formulation of genocide, and what happened falls in line with that formulation. If you change the formulation, the events may not be considered as genocide. Many people might not understand me. Genocide is not a historical formulation, but a legal term,” Mahçupyan noted.