PanARMENIAN.Net
ANCC: Turkey has distinction of being world’s worst
perpetrator of crimes against humanity
29.05.2008 17:56 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian National Committee of
Canada recently participated in two important historic
commemorations – for the Pontian Genocide and the
Rwandan Genocide victims. On May 18, the Brotherhood
Pontian of Toronto organized a memorial for the
353,000 Pontian Greek victims of atrocities
perpetrated by the Turkish government from 1916 to
1923.
Among the 350 people who attended the commemoration
were a high-ranking Greek Cabinet minister, a member
of the Greek parliament, and representatives of the
department of foreign affairs of Greece, the ANCC told
PanARMENIAN.Net.
The memorial was held at St. Dimitrios Greek Orthodox
Church in Toronto.
The keynote speaker Michael Charalampidis, author, and
member of the executive committee of the International
Association for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples,
emphasized the imperative for Pontians around the
world to organize and to become more politically
active in the international recognition of the Pontian
Genocide.
Furthermore, he said he appreciated and valued the
pioneering work of the Armenian National Committee and
the Armenian people, at large, in their political
activism and in paving the way for the Pontian
community to follow in their footsteps.
Aris Babikian, executive director of the Armenian
National Committee of Canada (ANCC), urged the
international community and governments -not to be
selective in their condemnation, as their political
and economic interests dictate, but to bring to
justice the Turkish genocide perpetrators and their
accomplices. Today the Turkish government, encouraged
by the international community’s silence, is not only
denying the Armenian, Pontian, and Assyrian Genocides
and continuing its illegal occupation of Cyprus, but
it has also launched a genocide against the Kurds.-
Babikian said it’s -imperative for us to stand united
in solidarity, to remind the world of the Turkish
government’s past and present crimes, and to demand
that the international community to stop its
appeasement policies towards a fascist and racist
Turkish government which has the distinction of being
the world’s worst perpetrator of crimes against
humanity.-
Babikian reminded the gathered that the -rampant
extreme nationalism, prejudice and xenophobia in
contemporary Turkey is an ominous sign and a reminder
of the climate which existed in Turkey in the early
20th century.-
He added that Canada and the international community
can send a clear and unequivocal message to the
Turkish government that the international community
will not tolerate such inhuman treatment of our fellow
human beings and will not allow the genocide denial
machine to operate with impunity.
On April 4, the ANCC participated in a press
conference at the Gatineau city hall to commemorate
the 14th anniversary of the genocide of Rwanda’s Tutsi
minority. The press conference was organized by the
HUMURA Association, with the participation of the
Canadian Jewish Congress, the Association of Darfur,
and ANCC.
Genocide denial was the theme of the press conference.
At the end of the conference the participants signed a
letter bringing to the attention of the Right Hon.
Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada, that
-genocide deniers hide behind the veil of dubious
scholars of the `truth’ who increase the agony of the
victims’ wounds that have never healed… While Canada
rightly protects fundamental liberties, including the
liberty of expression, we strongly believe that
genocide deniers should never enjoy constitutional
guarantees to propagate heinous and racist speeches
targeting specific ethnic groups in Canada.-
Babikian said that he considered it ANCC’s privilege
and honor to participate in the gatherings to -show
our friendship with other genocide victim nations. We,
the survivors of similar heinous crimes, or the
descendents of those who survived, must unite to
remind the international community that such crimes
will not be forgotten, denied or be allowed to be
repeated. We owe it to our martyrs who paid the
ultimate price for intolerance, xenophobia and
hatred.-