ARMENIAN POLITICAL PARTIES URGE LEBANESE GOVERNMENT TO DENY TURKISH PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL FORCES
Yerkir
25.08.2006 13:38
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – At their August 24 meeting in Beirut,
representatives of the three Armenian political parties of Lebanon
– the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Social Democratic Hnchak
Party and Liberal Democratic Party – issued a statement urging the
Lebanese government to reject any participation of Turkish troops in
the international forces to be deployed in Lebanon.
Below is the text of the statement.
We, the leaders of the three Armenian political parties, the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation, Social Democratic Hnchak Party and Liberal
Democratic Party, deeply appreciate the efforts of the Lebanese
government to set a ceasefire, stop the war bloodshed, establish
peace and stability and restore what has been destroyed in the recent
Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
We also welcome the UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that intends
to increase the number of the peacekeepers in South Lebanon. We,
however, voice the Lebanese Armenian community’s rejection of the
idea to include Turkish troops in the peacekeeping forces because:
a. Participation of Turkish troops in the international forces breaches
the principle of impartiality for international forces and therefore
would obstruct the efforts of establishing peace and stability in
Lebanon. No country participating in the international forces should
be an ally of a conflict party.
Turkey, however, has a history of enmity with many countries and
nations, and its history demonstrates the bloody core of its relations
with those nations. In addition, Turkey has a military treaty with
Israel which also includes a cooperation of special services. That
treaty threatens the peace process in the region, and Turkey’s biased
foreign policy makes us mistrust Turkey.
b. Turkey continues its occupation of Cyprus, blockade of Armenia and
refuses to recognize the 1915 Armenian Genocide it had perpetrated
and apologize for that crime.
c. Turkey continues to violate human rights and rights of minorities
making it ineligible for peacekeeping mission.
d. There is no doubt that any country participating in international
forces should be accepted by the Lebanese public: Turkey’s history
of violence in Lebanon does not help that country to deserve such
acceptance considering that the Lebanese people in its collective
memory still endures the consequences of the Turkish crimes and
tyranny.
Taking into account these realities, we reaffirm our opposition and
refusal to inclusion of Turkish troops in the peacekeeping forces to be
deployed in South Lebanon and demand that the Lebanese government turn
down the inclusion of the Turkish troops in those forces in support
of the Lebanese Armenian community that is an important portion of
the Lebanese society.
In this letter addressed to the Lebanese government, we demand that the
Lebanese government include the Armenian position in its agenda, taking
into account that all the communities in Lebanon should be respected.
Armenian Revolutionary Federation Social Democratic Hnchak Party
Liberal Democratic Party.
From: Baghdasarian