The Global Peace and Justice Coalition (Global BAK) has demanded removal of Minister of Defense Vecdi Gönül for defending the forced exchange of populations and the forced migration of Armenians during the late Ottoman and the early Republican periods.

The Global BAK said that Gönül has threatened the minorities that exist in Turkey today by justifying the violence against the minorities and the different groups that was done in the past. 

Gönül had asked rhetorically in the speech he gave at Brussels on November 10 whether the present national state would be possible if the Greeks would stay in the Aegean region and the Armenian all over Turkey.

The racist climate that led to Dink’s murder

The Global BAK argued in its speech given today that if Gönül was not removed from his post then the government would be responsible for Gönül’s speech.

“The Global Peace and Justice Commission is an anti-war platform in whose ranks are also Armenians, Greeks and Kurds. Among its founders was Hrant Dink, who was killed by the racist climate while trying to form bridges of dialog for the brotherhood of peoples.”

“Hrant Dink, who had committed his whole life to the struggle for peace, justice and equality was murdered because he was an Armenian. But now Vecdi Gönül is trying to foster the same climate, the same racist atmosphere. A minister is praising a dark page of recent history that led to great sufferings. ”

The organization claimed that Gönül had committed the crime of “pushing people towards hatred and hostility by presenting the Greeks and Armenians who still live in Turkey as “the enemy” (EÜ/TB)