Ties with US at historical crossroad: MHP leader

ANKARA

Ties with the United States are at a historical crossroads after President Joe Biden’s use of the word “genocide” in an annual commemoration of the 1915 events, the chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has said, proposing the government to activate the S-400 air defense systems bought from Russia.

“In our opinion, ties with the U.S. are at a historical crossroads. The first thing we should do is to activate the S-400s and get the money we paid for the F-35s back. I hereby declare that we will fully support every decision to be taken by our state and government,” MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli told his parliamentary group on April 27.

Biden’s accusations against Turkey dealt a major blow on the allied relationship and has proven that his friendship is a lie and strategic partnership is nothing but a fairytale, he said.

Bahçeli accused the U.S. of trying to use the April 24 commemorations as a tool to impose pressure on Turkey while recalling “genocide committed by the U.S. against American Indians during the 19th century, including Seminole Indians in Florida.

The Ottoman Empire’s decision to deport the Armenians from eastern Anatolia to other parts of the country was in reaction to the Armenian armed gangs’ atrocities against the Muslim civilians during the First World War, he said. Around 124,000 Muslim Turks were killed by these groups between August 1914 and March 1916, he said.

The MHP leader remembered the fact that dozens of Turkish diplomats were killed by the Armenian terror organization ASALA throughout the 1970s and 1980s, asking, “Who is going to give an account for our diplomats and citizens martyred by the ASALA terror gang?”