ARMENIAN STUDENTS: THERE IS NO ROOM IN CANADA FOR A GENOCIDE DENIER
PanARMENIAN.Net
06.03.2009 01:58 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish university professor and prominent Armenian
Genocide denier Turkkaya Atayov spoke to a packed, yet ideologically
divided audience in McGill University in Quebec, Canada.
A large number of Armenian students attended the contentious lecture
in protest, and questioned the McGill’s decision to allow a genocide
denier to speak on campus under the auspices of freedom of speech. Once
question period opened up, the forum deteriorated into a shouting
match between the Turkish and Armenian students in attendance, The
McGill Tribune reports.
Atayov rarely addressed the Armenian Genocide directly in the lecture,
instead choosing to talk about the need to question mainstream accounts
of history and the notion that an unfair standard of blame has been
placed upon the Turkish people.
As it is mentioned in the Article, "Atayov claimed that "Armenian
arguments" omit many facts, and made reference to the "slaughter"
of Turkish people by Armenians in the past. He largely sidestepped
the issue of genocide, however, instead asking those in attendance
to read the books and essays he has published on the subject in the
past in order to understand his argument that Armenian deaths in the
early 20th century should not be classified as genocide."
Before the lecture started, and at various points throughout it,
a group of about 10 students held up signs that said "There is no
room in Canada for a genocide denier" and "Denial is the last step
of genocide."
According to Mardig Taslakian, vice president external of the
Armenian Students’ Association, the ASA will file an equity complaint
against the Turkish Students’ Society of McGill University later
this week. Equity complaints are reviewed by the Students’ Society
and could result in sanctions against the TSSMU.
"What would the university’s reaction be if Neo-Nazis invited someone
to come and preach that the Holocaust didn’t happen?" Taslakian
said. "The Armenian genocide, like the Holocaust, is a well-proven,
indisputable fact. … The Armenian community feels offended that
a renowned institution like McGill would allow to say such hateful
things."
"There should be discussion of how to deal with the results of the
genocide, and not whether or not it happened," Taslakian said. "But
[Atayov] blamed the mass deaths of Armenians on a pandemic, among
other things, not on the genocide."
The Armenian Genocide is officially recognized by many organizations,
including the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, the
International Association of Genocide Scholars, and over 20 countries,
including Canada.