Turkey's pro-Kurdish party leader has apologized to Armenians on behalf of his ancestors who took part in the 1915 anti-Armenian massacres in the Ottoman Empire.
"It is time that we all re-read the history and accept the realities of the past. The Ottoman Empire used our fathers and ancestors in the massacres against Armenians, Assyrians and Yezidis," Ahmet Turk, the leader of pro-Kurdish DTP, said in an interview with IMC-TV.
"We - as their sons, children and grandchildren - are obliged to ask Armenians for forgiveness. This will have revolutionary significance and may introduce changes in our future social and cultural calculations," he said.
"I hope that Turkey will also admit that asking Armenians for forgiveness is of historical importance. Turkey cannot refute the fact that thousands of Armenians, Yezidis and Assyrians were massacred in the Ottoman Empire and since the tragedy happened before the establishment of Turkey as a republic, asking for forgiveness will not be that difficult for the country," said Ahmet Turk.
