GENOCIDE BELIEF SEEN AS ‘INSULT’ BY TURKEY
Jennifer Campbell
Ottawa Citizen
ity/story.html?id=2dbead1a-b66c-4754-81b1-016b4d04 5569
May 14 2008
Canada
The fact that the Canadian government has recognized Armenian claims
of genocide by the Turks in 1915 still casts a shadow over relations
between Canada and Turkey, the incoming ambassador says.
Rafet Akgunay noted in an interview yesterday that Canada is one of the
only governments in the world to recognize Armenian claims and said
his government finds it particularly strange coming from a country
that is known internationally as a peace-loving and peace-making
nation. (In 2004, Canada’s Parliament reversed the country’s previous
policy when it voted for a private member’s bill that recognized as
genocide the killing of Armenians during the First World War.)
"It’s taken as an insult in Turkey and it’s an insult from a country
which is known around the world as a country that loves peace and
security and stability. This is just the other way around because
you recognize something which is not established as fact.
"Writing history is not the task of parliamentarians or officials of
government," he said.
Given that, Turkey has asked foreign governments to encourage both
sides to study the archives and decide exactly what happened. Turkey
has proposed a joint committee of historians from Turkey and Armenia,
with the possibility of third-party historians joining in to come up
with a decisive analysis of the history.
That said, Mr. Akgunay said the Armenian issue is not the only one on
his agenda — indeed, it’s just one facet of the political side. He’s
also going to work toward air agreements where Turkish Airlines could
fly into Canada. "One of the first things I did in Canada was to attend
a meeting of the Turkey-Canada Business Council and all the business
people asked me to try my best to start flights from Turkey. Turkish
Airlines is ready but there are still agreements to be made in Canada."
He plans to develop the trade relationship. Two-way trade between
Canada and Turkey now stands at $1.3 billion, which is "peanuts"
for both countries.
By comparison, Turkey’s two-way trade with Russia is $25 billion.
He will also work with Turkish-Canadians, who number about 50,000,
many of whom contribute greatly to the economy, he said.