Armenian National Committee of Australia
259 Penshurst Street
Willoughby, NSW 2068
Contact: Mr. Varant Meguerditchian
Tel: 612 9419 8264
Fax: 612 9411 8898
Email: info@anc.net.au
Web:

MEDIA RELEASE: ANC of Australia Opposes Sending of Turkish Troops to
Lebanon

September 20th, 2006

Representatives of Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC of
Australia) recently met with Lebanon’s Consul General in Sydney, His
Excellency Mazen Kabbara, to discuss the Australian-Armenian community’s
anxiety and concern in regard to the participation of Turkish troops in
the UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon.

Mr Panos Manjian, Mr Vicken Kalloghlian and Mr Varant Meguerditchian,
members of the ANC of Australia handed Mr. Kabbara a letter opposing the
inclusion of the Turkish forces in the UN peacekeeping mission between
Lebanon and Israel.

The ANC of Australia representatives emphasised to the Consul General,
that Turkey was unfit to take part in such a peace keeping mission
because of its history of human rights violations, as perpetrators of
the Armenian Genocide, illegal occupiers of Northern Cyprus and brutal
former colonisers of Lebanon.

During the colonisation of Lebanon, Turkey perpetrated massacres and
mass hangings in the Martyrs Square in downtown Beirut and implemented a
deliberate policy of starvation of the Christian population of Mount
Lebanon.

The Lebanese ambassador was attentive to the concerns and position of
ANC OF Australia and promised that he would transmit the committee’s
letter and the concerns of the Australian-Armenian community to the
Lebanese government.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress