MONTREAL GAZETTE TO CLARIFY ITS STANCE ON GENOCIDE ISSUE

MONTREAL GAZETTE TO CLARIFY ITS STANCE ON GENOCIDE ISSUE

Azg/arm
28 July 05

The editor-in-chief of one of influential Canadian dailies — Montreal
Gazette — has made the paper’s position clear on the Armenian
genocide in a circular to the staff, Armenian Mirror Spectator
informed on July 23.

“Historic documents make it clear that what happened in 1915 was a
genocide in accordance with UN definition of 1948”, the circular
reads. It goes on urging journalists and editors to use the word
“genocide” in articles about Armenian massacres without adding
“alleged”, “so-called”, “disputable” or “as Armenians claim”
descriptions. “Our position coincides with those of other newspapers
— the Ottawa Citizen, the New York Times and the Boston Globe”, the
circular says.

The paper adopted this posture after a meeting with the Armenian
community on June 15. Editor-in-chief Andrew Fillips and other members
of the editorial staff met with the representatives of the Congress of
Canadian-Armenians, Taro Alebian, (chairman), Arshavir Gyonjian
(honored chairman) and Harry Tigranian (lawyer). Besides representing
the history of that period, the latter gave the journalists
corresponding documents provided by Zoryan Institute and Vardges
Tolabtchian.

By Hakob Tsulikian