Turkey's Foreign Ministry Halves Budget for Fighting Genocide Theses

The Planning and Budgetary Commission of the Turkish Parliament has approved the 2020 budget of the "Directorate General for Research and Security Affairs" affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This was reported by yenicaggazetesi.com.tr.

In 2020, the budget will be 5.9 million Turkish Lira (about 1 million 30 thousand US dollars). In 2019, the allocation for this body was 11.2 million Turkish Lira (around 2 million US dollars).

Several Turkish media outlets indicate that this decision reduces the "budget for combating genocide theses," at a time when many countries' parliaments, including the U.S. House of Representatives, have passed resolutions recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

It is also noted that the "Directorate General for Research and Security Affairs" is involved in presenting Turkey's position on the Gülen movement to the international community.

It is worth recalling that on July 15, 2016, there was an attempted military coup in Turkey, for which President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan blames Fethullah Gülen, the founder of the "Hizmet" ("Service") religious movement and his opponent, who currently resides in Pennsylvania, USA.