Turkey’s decision to recall ambassador ‘blackmail’

Updated Wed. Apr. 22 2009 4:13 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff

Turkey’s decision to recall its ambassador to Canada to protest an
event commemorating the Armenian genocide is "blatant blackmail" of
the Canadian government and people, says a prominent member of the
Canadian-Armenian community.

Turkey has recalled Ambassador Rafet Akgunay to protest the decision
by some Parliamentarians to attend an event Tuesday night that
commemorated Canada’s decision to label the 1915 killing of Armenians
as genocide.

Parliament voted in favour of a private member’s bill acknowledging
the genocide five years ago under former prime minister Paul Martin.

It is estimated that as many as 1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered
by Ottoman Turks. However, Turkey strongly objects to the idea that
the killings amount to genocide, arguing that the death toll is
exaggerated and the casualties were a result of civil war.

Turkey’s move to recall its ambassador is "ridiculous" and the
Canadian government should respond in kind, said Aris Babikian, the
executive director of the Armenian National Committee of Canada.

"This is purely and blatant blackmail of Canada and the Canadian
people. And this is blatant interference in our internal affairs,"
Babikian told CTV.ca in a telephone interview from Ottawa on
Wednesday. "We are not a banana republic where Turkey can dictate what
to do, what to say, what to organize."

The event was organized by the Congress of Canadian Armenians on the
fifth anniversary of Canada’s decision to formally recognize the
events of 1915 as genocide.

The event in question was attended by Citizenship and Immigration
Minister Jason Kenney and Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, among
other members of Parliament.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper sent a message to the event’s organizers
in which he paid tribute to the "terrible loss of life during the
demise of the Ottoman empire in 1915, and in particular the horrific
suffering endured by the Armenian people."

A spokesperson for Kenney referred media queries to the Department of
Foreign Affairs, while calls to a spokesperson for Ignatieff, as well
as to Turkey’s embassy in Ottawa, were not immediately returned on
Wednesday.

Foreign Affairs spokesperson Andre Lemay told CTV.ca in an email that
the federal government’s position on the issue is "not an indictment
of modern Turkey" and said the ambassador’s recall does not indicate
that diplomatic relations between the two countries have been severed.

Lemay said Canada maintains a good relationship with Turkey, which
Canada considers a key ally.

According to Burak Ozugergin, a spokesperson for Turkey’s Foreign
Ministry, Akgunay was recalled for "thorough evaluations and
consultations."

Ozugergin did not specify why the ambassador was recalled or how long
the recall the will last.

However, a Turkish government official who spoke on the condition of
anonymity said the move was in response to the event held in Ottawa on
Tuesday evening to commemorate the killing of Armenians at the close
of the First World War.

This is not the first time that Turkey has recalled its ambassador to
Canada over the genocide issue.

In 2006, Turkey withdrew its ambassador, pulled out of a planned
military exercise in Canada and criticized Harper for comments he made
that supported recognizing the killings as genocide.

Arman Akopian, the Armenian Charge d’Affaires to Canada, said he
couldn’t comment on Canadian-Turkish relations and hoped the situation
could be resolved quickly. But he added that Canada recognized the
Armenian genocide five years ago and has made numerous official
statements since, and he questioned the timing of Turkey’s actions.

"Frankly, I see no strong reasons Turkey should have acted this way,"
he told CTV Newsnet.

He added that Canada has been a strong supporter of negotiations
between Turkey and Armenia to reopen their borders to each other,
which have been closed since 1993.

"Canada has always been very supportive of the Armenia-Turkish
reconciliation process and has been encouraging Armenia and Turkey to
engage in dialogue to continue the negotiations," he said. Bill
introduced in U.S.

Babikian said that Canada’s decision to recognize the genocide not
only acknowledges an important human rights issue. It also honours the
Canadians who raised money to bring Armenian orphans to Canada in
1922, an event that Babikian said marked Canada’s role in "pioneering"
international humanitarian efforts.

The issue is also coming to the fore in the United States, where
legislators have introduced a bill that would label the deaths
genocide. If the legislation is passed, it could compromise President
Barack Obama’s goal of improving relations with Turkey, a NATO ally.

Intense opposition from the Bush administration quashed a similar bill
two years ago.

During his campaign, Obama called the killings genocide. But during a
recent visit to Turkey he avoided using the term.

Freelance journalist Nicholas Birch said Wednesday that while the
ambassador’s recall has garnered little attention in the Turkish
media, the issue of the genocide is one that still resonates today.

"To be fair, this is something that happened before the foundation of
the Turkish Republic, this is something which happened in the last
days of the Ottoman Empire," Birch told CTV Newsnet from Istanbul.

"Although, the interesting thing is – and I think this is probably why
it’s so sensitive – is that many of the people who played an important
part in the clearances of 1915 actually ended up taking quite
significant posts in the Republican government which came in in
1923. So there is a kind of bloodline which goes back from the last
days of the Ottoman Empire into the Republic, which was set up in
’23."

According to Birch, while Turks are not taught about the genocide at
school, they can read about it in books written by Armenian and
Western historians and are increasingly engaging in discussions about
the events.

"So there is the beginning of a debate, but the trouble is that this
is a state policy that 1915 is absolutely not a genocide and the state
in this country is still very, very powerful."

With files from The Associated Press