During a regular meeting of the Turkish supreme advisory committee, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan instructed to establish an independent body fighting against the recognition of Armenian Genocide.

The speakers at the meeting stressed that there was no specific organization in Turkey that will deal with Armenian Genocide denial and the development of a respective strategy, Hurriyet reported. It was noted that a number of Turkish ministries were participating in the fight against Armenian Genocide recognition, but no single policy was developed in this regard.

The suggestion came from Cemil Çiçek, a member of the High Advisory Board, during a board meeting on June 16. Çiçek and one of the chief presidential advisors, Seyit Sertçelik, gave a briefing to Erdoğan on the subject. The President of Turkey accepted the proposals of the participants in the meeting, and instructed to create an independent body that will deal with the denial of Armenian Genocide.

The idea of creating such a body by the Turkish president arose a few months ago after a resolution recognizing Armenian Genocide had appeared in the US Congress and Armenians had filed lawsuits against Turkey in US courts, but the spread of COVID-19 had forced the Turkish authorities to postpone the founding of such an organization.

During the meeting, officials pointed to the fact that the authority to work on the Armenian Genocide was taken from the National Security Council (MGK) with the constitutional amendments in 2015, adding that the formation of an institution that won’t be directly linked to the government or the state is needed.

The Editor