New Anatolian, Turkey
May 8 2006

Canadian blunder on Armenian claims
Recep Guvelioglu

rguvelioglu@thenewanatolian.com08 May 2006

Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper lat last month delivered a
speech supporting the Armenian claims of genocide. The Turkish
Foreign Ministry denounced his remarks, saying, “Turkey rejects
attempts to create a history based on biased political maneuvers and
propaganda.”
The Canadian Parliament approved a decision on the same claims two
years ago.
Personally I’m not happy with the Turkish attitude toward the
Armenians’ so-called genocide claims. I’m one of the critics of our
political approach on what happened in 1915.
Also, everybody knows that I’m also totally against the Armenian
falsifications.
As a person who’s spent quite a lot of time on the issue, all I want
is to eliminate deceptions and deliberate deviations from the
historical facts.
The declaration of the Foreign Ministry was clear and as usual a very
polite one. I’m not supposed to be like that.
Harper’s declaration on the so-called genocide commemoration day
(April 24) was aimed at satisfying the Armenian diaspora in Canada.
Like some other leaders in Western countries, he degraded the case to
make it domestic political fodder to get Armenian votes and support.
Excuse my language, but it was a kind of bone to toss.
This behavior bothers me.
The Armenian claims, whether true or false, are about human lives.
That kind of issue must be taken seriously. And as a democratic
leader, Harper should have tried to learn the other side of the coin.
Frankly, I don’t think that he even took a deep look at the Armenian
claims either.
Then comes another point: Since he must be much wiser than me, why
did he do so?
Because one of the sides of the conflict is Turkey and the Turks.
It’s clear that he has no respect for us.
Have you ever heard of Harper criticizing the British government for
what they did in India in the 1940s (for example in Amritsar)? Have
you ever heard that he said something about Sakyet Youssuf (a place
in Algeria where French troops massacred many civilian Algerians)?
No . Because these kinds of remarks might have created a lot of
trouble for Canada or Canadian economic life.
If I were a pro-genocide Armenian, I would have rejected Canadian
support in this way. If it’s a humanistic matter — genocide is a
totally anti-humanistic crime — it shouldn’t be used as bait for
domestic votes.
It’s a shame, not just only for Harper, but also for us.
That reminds me of an article by Bedii Faik. Many years ago drunk
American soldiers tore up the Turkish flag in Izmir. Faik wrote an
unforgettable sentence about that: “American soldiers tore up our
flag, because we put our flags much lower.”