Press Release of Dutch News Agency ANP on 21 April 2006 about the vandalism
against the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Lyon, France and security measures
during the Armenian Genocide commemoration in Amsterdam on Sunday 23 April
2006 and in Assen on Monday 24 April 2006 (see www.24april.nl0, both
organised by 24 April Committee of the Federation of Armenian Organisations
in Netherlands (FAON).
DUTCH PRESS AGENCY ANP
21 April 2006
Armenian Genocide Commemoration in Lyon and Amsterdam
Inauguration of Armenian Memorial in Centre of Lyon
LYON/AMSTERDAM (ANP) – Monday Armenians will inaugurate in Lyon after long
legally tussle and in spite of vandalism of Turkish extremists a prominent
Memorial in the memory to the victims of the Genocide which started o 24
April 1915 in the Ottoman Empire.
It is remarkable that this Armenian Memorial is situated in the middle of
the city at the Antonin Poncet square, only 200 meters of the central square
Bellecour and nearly 200 meters of the river Rhone, as reported by the
local media on Friday.
The French minister of Home Affairs, Nicolas Sarkozy, expressed his
indignation this week and in a letter to the founders of the Memorial
ensured, that the authors of this vandalism will be severely punished. Last
month during a demonstration of radical Turks who deny the Genocide, the
Memorial under construction was scrawled with slogans denying the Genocide.
The Turkish republic was founded by Turkish nationalists after the first
world war in what used to be the centre of the Ottoman Empire. By then the
majority of the Armenians in the Empire had been killed systematically and
cruelly. The Armenians state that certainly one and a half million people
were exterminated during the Genocide.
During the twenties the Turkish Republic decided to deny the Genocide. The
Republic still persists in that. According to Ankara the number of Armenian
victims would be 300,000 to 500,000 as a result of Armenian insurrections
and other war operations which got out of hand. This attitude towards the
history, can form an obstacle for a Turkish membership of the EU, according
to observers.
The aggression of radical negationists of Armenian Genocide recently has
increased at commemorations or meetings, According to observers. Therefore
the Federation of Armenian Organisations in the Netherlands (FAON) has asked
for extra security during the commemoration on Sunday afternoon in
Amsterdam. The FAON last month wrote letters to four Dutch ministers to
express their concern about the aggressive actions of Turkish negationists
such as the Grey Wolves.
The Dutch Memorial for the victims of the Armenian Genocide is situated at a
less prominent place than in Lyon. It was finally inaugurated on 24 April
2001 in Assen in the cemetery de Boskamp after lots of difficulties and
opposition during the construction. On Monday a commemoration ceremony will
take place also at this Memorial.
