Ottawa Sun, Canada
April 25 2005
Armenians rally at embassy, demand Turks admit atrocity
By MEGAN GILLIS, Ottawa Sun
Hundreds of Armenian-Canadians rallied outside the Turkish Embassy
yesterday, demanding the Turks admit to slaughtering 1.5 million
Armenians 90 years ago. Vahe Balabanian, president of the Armenian
Cultural Association of Ottawa, has rallied at the Sandy Hill park
for decades.
“My first one was in 1971,” he said. “We never lost hope, we believe
in the honesty of people. Eventually, the truth will win.”
Armenians from Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa set up paper tombstones
for the dead and demanded recognition from Turkey and reparation —
the return of ancestral lands.
Organizers pegged their numbers at up to 1,000.
Countries around the world — including Canada — have recognized
what Armenians call the 20th century’s first genocide and Turkey
dismisses as propaganda.
“The Jewish Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, the genocide in Darfur
— the Armenian genocide was the blueprint for modern genocide,” said
rally organizer Edward Agopian. “By not acknowledging such an
atrocity occurred, it leaves the door open for more atrocities to
occur.”
The rally also coincided with the 20th anniversary of when members of
the Armenian Revolutionary Army stormed the Turkish Embassy in
Ottawa, killing a security guard.
