Armenia–Turkey relations

Among outstanding Armenian politicians and intellectuals, 235 of them were arrested in Istanbul on April 24, 1915; their fate is unknown. Armenian religious leaders sent a telegram to the U.S. president, ?Turks are slaughtering Armenians.? Thus the date April 24 is adopted as the alleged genocide date. 

The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) was an Armenian terrorist organization that operated from 1975 until the early 1990s. It conducted a series of assassinations against Turks throughout the 1970 and 1980s, killing 46 and injuring 299 people. Some 42 of the assassinated were Turkish diplomats.

In a comprehensive interview with daily Hürriyet?s Cansu Çaml?bel on April 24, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan underlined in an open way that Armenia?s ?struggle does not end in 2015 ? it will just enter a more mature phase.?  

Police dispersed Istanbul Technical University (?TÜ) students on April 24 as they attempted to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the events of 1915, which Armenia and a number of countries recognize as genocide, Do?an News Agency reported. 

According to a recent survey of Gallup International, 61 % of Bulgarians have not heard of an Armenian genocide having taken place in the Ottoman Empire, while 39 % are familiar with the event.

This amounts to around two million Bulgarian adult citizens currently residing in the country, who are familiar with the issue.

Armenia marks on Friday the centenary of the mass killings of Ottoman Armenians with commemorative ceremonies across the country.

Flowers were laid and a minute of silence was observed at the Armenian Genocide Memorial near Yerevan, the BBC reports.

Yerevan is prepared to normalize its relations with Ankara without any preconditions, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has said ahead of April 24, "Genocide Remembrance Day" for Armenians.

Turkey tells Austria that an Austrian parliamentary declaration describing the 1915 killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as 'genocide' would permanently damage the two countries' relations Turkey told Austria on April 22 that an Austrian parliamentary declaration describing the 1915 killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as ?genocide?

Dodik's plane heading to Armenia unable to fly over Turkey

BANJA LUKA -- Milorad Dodik was on Wednesday traveling to Armenia at the invitation President Serzh Sargsyan, but his plane did not receive the permission to fly over Turkey.

After several hours of waiting in Bulgaria, the plane on Wednesday afternoon returned to Banja Luka.

The commemorations of the ?Armenian centenary? will pass, leaving anger on the Turkish side at Pope Francis, the European Parliament, and the German Bundestag for affirming that the Armenian massacres in 1915 were genocide. There will also be relief on the Turkish side that that President Barack Obama did not use the ?G-word? ? which press reports from Washington indicate will be the case ?