TUTSI GENOCIDE: AMERICAN ARMENIA EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER EXHIBITION DUE TO TURKISH INTERFERENCE

Rwanda Information Exchange, NY
April 17 2007

Armenian Assembly of America Expresses Concern over Exhibition
‘Lessons from Rwanda’ Due to Turkish Interference

Washington, DC – The Armenian Assembly this week sent a letter of
concern regarding the postponement of a UN exhibit on the Rwanda
Genocide, ‘Lessons from Rwanda,’ due to an unwarranted interference by
the mission of Turkey to the United Nations over a reference to the
Armenian Genocide. The letter was sent to UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon and Under-Secretary- General for Communications and Public
Information Kiyotaka Akasaka.

In the letter, Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny expressed
disappointment with the suspension of the exhibit, which included
a description of the Armenian Genocide as a prototype of the
international crimes requiring concerted response and prevention
attributed to Raphael Lemkin, who authored the UN Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

The Assembly also applauded the decision of the exhibit’s organizers
to continue to resist the removal of the reference to the Armenian
Genocide as a matter of principal and urged the UN support of the
initial exhibit without qualifications.

Attached is the full text of the Assembly’s letter to the UN Secretary
General which was also sent to the Under-Secretary- General for
Communications and Public Information:

LETTER TO THE UN SECRETARY GENERAL

Subject: Postponement of the exhibition ‘Lessons from Rwanda’

Excellency,

On behalf of the Armenian Assembly of America, an NGO with Special
Consultative Status at the United Nations since 1999, I am writing
to express my deepest concern over the postponement of a UN exhibit
on the Rwanda Genocide due to unwarranted interference by the mission
of Turkey to the United Nations.

Aegis Trust, the organizer of the exhibit, is to be commended for
taking the initiative to share the lessons of Rwanda, and of genocide
in general, as the recurrence of this crime against humanity remains
a global issue.

I am, therefore, particularly dismayed to learn the exhibit was
suspended over a reference to the Armenian Genocide attributed
to Raphael Lemkin, the very author of the UN Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, who described
the Armenian Genocide as a prototype of the international crimes
requiring concerted response and prevention. This act of censorship
undermines the very credibility of the UN commitment to responding
to and preventing genocide.

Genocide prevention is contingent on the ability of the international
community to properly acknowledge and draw lessons from past genocides,
to ensure that future situations with the potential of leading to
such new crimes are identified early and prevented.

Amnesia, selectivity and denial corrupt that effort, and disregard
the standards of morality and political wisdom guiding this search for
improved mechanisms and capabilities for collective action to prevent,
and prosecute genocide.

In recent years, interventions in Kosovo and Bosnia helped arrest
ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, bringing stability and rehabilitation
to the peoples in that region. The international response to Kosovo and
Bosnia, however, came largely as a result of the bitter lesson learned
in Rwanda, where the tragic inaction of the world community resulted in
some of the most heinous crimes committed against innocent populations.

The failure to stop the Armenian Genocide in the early part of the
20th century emboldened the Nazis two decades later to proceed with
their plans for the ‘Final Solution’, leading to the Holocaust.

The Armenian Genocide is a tragedy of seminal importance to the modern
knowledge on, and understanding of, the phenomenon of genocide. The
Armenian Assembly, therefore, applauds the decision of the organizers
of the exhibit to continue to resist, as a matter of principle,
removing the reference to the Armenian Genocide.

We similarly urge you to support the exhibit as initially approved,
without qualifications.

Sincerely,

Bryan Ardouny Executive Director

The Armenian Assembly is the largest Washington-based nationwide
organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian
issues. It is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.

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