Myrthe at The Armenian Odar has [finally] posted a very detailed report about the removal of Turkish candidates from Dutch political parties for denying the Armenian Genocide.

The Dutch lady, who now lives in Armenia, also invites the readers’ attention to Nebahat Albayrak, whom I called “First Turkish Politician Acknowledges The Genocide.”

After reading Myrthe’s post I realized one thing for two reasons: I was wrong to call Albayrak “First Turkish Politician Acknowledges The Genocide.” First, there have been other Turkish politicians in Netherlands who have recognized the Armenian Genocide; second, Albayrak, in essence, denies the Armenian Genocide although she calls it “genocide.”

Myrthe has summarized statements and news items from Dutch sources, which makes the entry very valuable. There isn’t such a detailed and well-written report on the removal of the Turkish candidates and the adventures of Albayrak in English. “The Armenian genocide stirs up Dutch politics” is a must-read.
Her post is available at http://armenianodar.blogspot.com/2006/10/a…s-up-dutch.html.

All in all, I was not too impressed with Albayrak's statements, she doesn't take a clear position. Besides, her statements come rather close to what denialists keep repeating. This was also the gist of several reactions to Albayrak's statements, most notably that of Ton Zwaan of the University of Amsterdam, an expert in genocide-studies. Although his essay was written as a reaction to Nebahat Albayrak's essay, Zwaan's text touches on many of the standard arguments used by denialists.