Aztag, Lebanon
Oct 13 2006
Armenians Rally Against Turkish Participation in U.N. Peacekeeping
Force in Lebanon
Thousands of Lebanon’s Armenians rallied in Beirut Thursday against
Turkish troops taking part in a U.N. peacekeeping force there, on the
same day France moved to make denial of the Ottoman genocide of
Armenians a crime.
Armenian political and religious leaders attended the demonstration,
which came just two days after the first contingent of Turkish
peacekeepers arrived to police a ceasefire between Israel and
Hizbullah.
The rally took place on Beirut’s downtown Place des Martyrs, which
honors six Lebanese nationalists who were hanged by the Ottomans
during World War I.
The crowd, drawn from an Armenian community of about 140,000 people,
held high banners denouncing the presence of Turkish troops as "an
insult to the collective memory of the Armenian people", while waving
Armenian, Lebanese and French flags.
"Genocide, massacre, deportation: Turkey’s definition of peace," read
another banner.
Earlier Thursday, French deputies approved a bill making it a crime
to deny that the 1915-1917 massacre of Armenians by the Ottomans was
genocide, provoking the fury of Turkey, the modern state that emerged
from the Ottoman Empire.
"What France has done is very good. The Lebanese government should do
the same instead of welcoming Turkish troops," said an elderly
demonstrator who gave his name as Taurus.
"Chirac is on the right track," said one of the organizers, Sarkis
Katchadorian, referring to French President Jacques Chirac.
Overriding widespread opposition, the Turkish parliament approved a
government motion on September 5 to contribute troops to the U.N.
Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) following a ceasefire that ended 34
days of fighting.
In total, Turkey is to deploy some 700 soldiers in Lebanon, including
troops aboard naval ships. Those that landed on Tuesday were the
first Muslim peacekeepers to arrive in the war-scarred country.
Turkey contests the term "genocide" and strongly opposed the French
bill.
It says 300,000 Armenians, and at least as many Turks, died in civil
strife when Armenians took up arms for independence and sided with
invading Russian troops as the Ottoman Empire fell apart during World
War I.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their ancestors were slaughtered
in orchestrated killings, which they maintain can only be seen as
genocide.
The French bill must now go to the Senate, or upper house of
parliament, for another vote.(AFP-AP photo shows Lebanese Armenian
demonstrators waving Lebanese and Armenian flags and holding placards
at the rally)