Armenians remember Turkish killings

Thousands of Armenians climbed a mountain in the country's capital yesterday to lay wreaths of remembrance for 1.5 million victims of what they call a genocide by Ottoman Turkey 92 years ago. Modern Turkey rejects the Armenian claim, though the issue has evolved into a festering source of tension to both Ankara's EU ambitions and its relations with the United States.

Clutching red tulips and carnations, local families mingled with members of Armenia's diaspora who flew in from Europe and the United States to remember loved ones who perished between 1915 and 1923.

"We are Armenians and we have to send an important message to Turkey to acknowledge our genocide," said Carla Garapedian, a film director who travelled from the US.

The killings during the chaotic disintegration of the Ottoman Empire should be declared a genocide, Armenia insists.

Turkey rejects this view, arguing instead that Armenians were victims of a partisan war that also claimed many Muslim Turkish lives.

Armenian claims against Turkey are casting a shadow over Ankara's EU membership bid, perceived in many European capitals as a test case for Ankara's willingness to atone for its own past.

Officially, though, EU negotiators say recognition of the 1915 killings as a genocide are not a precondition for Turkey's eventual admission to the 27-member bloc.

The US Congress has debated a Bill on recognising the 1915 killings as a genocide, although the Bush administration opposes the Bill.

The White House is keen to avoid antagonising Turkey, a Nato ally and moderate Muslim country, whose support it needs in the region as it battles Iraqi insurgents and confronts Iran over its nuclear programme.