I have recently come across the article, “Distil understanding from past atrocities but blame-fixing is futile” by DAP Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran published on Aug 18, 2017 in Malaysiakini, which refers to the 1915 events as “genocide”.

Turkey does not deny the suffering of Armenians, including the loss of many innocent lives during World War I.

Yet, I would like to underline the fact that the term “genocide” was first legally defined in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and it is not a generic word to be used loosely.

It requires unequivocal proof of existence of specific conditions stipulated in the said convention. Above all, only a competent international court could make an assessment of “genocide” as in the case of the Holocaust, Rwanda, and Srebrenica.

I would like to highlight that there has been no such decision taken by a competent international court describing the 1915 events as “genocide”. The issue is still a matter of legitimate debate and there is no political, scientific, or legal consensus to describe the events of 1915.

The specific historical background of 1915 events shaped by World War I witnessed many tragedies for almost all nations that made up the Ottoman Empire including Turks, Armenians and many others.

We bear witness to the suffering endured by the Armenians in this tragic episode of history and see it as a terrible incident which occurred in the past. That is why I firmly believe that this period needs to be understood in its entirety.

AHMET DOGAN is deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey, Kuala Lumpur.