ACTIVISTS PROTESTING OF OPENING TURKISH CULTURAL WEEK IN BEIRUT

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.05.2009 01:41 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On April 28 a group of around 20 feminist activists
staged a sit-in at the UNESCO palace in Beirut in protest of the
opening of the Turkish Cultural Week only days after the commemoration
of the Armenian Genocide.

Demonstrators argued that the event was an "insult" to the Armenian
Genocide and a "sign of disrespect to its memory". As the group dropped
a giant banner reading "Recognize the Armenian Genocide" before the
surprised faces of diplomats and politicians that had gathered at the
UNESCO for the inauguration ceremony of the Turkish Cultural week,
fifteen of the activists were detained by the Lebanese police. They
were transferred to a police station near the UNESCO and were held
there for 3 hours until the ceremony had ended, MENASSAT reports.

"April 24th marked the commemoration of the Armenian genocide on the
hands of the Ottoman empire. April 24th also marked 94 years of denial
by the Turkish government that such a thing ever happened. They called
it casualties of war…

How perfect to put a cultural event in the middle and diverge the
minds and thoughts of everybody from Turkey’s past and denial,"
one of the activists said.