STRANGE GAMES ON IMPORTANT PRECEDENTS
Opinion by Shahan Kandaharian
Aztag Daily
May 1 2009
Lebanon
The president of Lebanon is the first president in fifty years who
accepted an invitation to visit Ankara and that a few days before
April 24.
The visit of course is a normal phenomenon between the two countries
who have mutual diplomatic relationships with each other as well as
enjoy an active and a gradually increasing cooperation in the fields
of politics, culture and trade.
The scheduled date of course was unacceptable for us, the Lebanese
Armenians. Moreover, following the official visit the organization of
the Turkish cultural week during the month of April was an insult to
the Armenian community in Lebanon which constitute a significant part
of the Lebanese public opinion. It also was an act of over-looking
its national collective remembrance.
We are aware that the latest developments in the region have reserved a
new role to Turkey which is demonstrating an over-active participation
in the region. This constitutes a volunteer participation in the
peacekeeping forces located in Southern Lebanon, organizing cultural
weeks in Lebanon, receiving Lebanese delegates, the busy activities of
the Turkish Embassy in Lebanon, the investments done in the Lebanese
educational system and the delicate searches and registrations of
the people of Turkish origin living in Lebanon.
On the regional level, the self-assigned mediatory missions in the
Middle Eastern crises, the mediation of the Syrian-Israeli talks as
well as the different scenes staged to woo and win the hearts of the
Arab countries during the Gaza war are good indications that Turkey
has entered the region through wide doors and has done some important
preparations to set the stage.
The sensitivity of the Lebanese Armenians concerning the date of
the visit to Turkey was conveyed to the president of Lebanon by the
representative of the Armenian parliamentarians’ block. The Lebanese
Armenian youth and the students’ who have political awareness also
didn’t let the Turkish cultural events pass without making their
voice heard. The issue has already passed community boundaries:
Lebanese political figures have already endorsed these actions and
stressed the importance of respecting the collective memories of a
significant community in the Lebanese society.
We will still have the chance to comment on the nature of the
agreements signed by the two countries during the above mentioned
recent visit. All of these processes, however, underline the
necessity of political actions that would constitute leverage. Here
we acknowledge the importance of the implementation of the more than
fifteen agreements between Lebanon and Armenia.
The above mentioned games are foreign and are not genuine moves
coming from Lebanon and the Lebanese people. Now we are on the verge
of May the 6th and it is the date to remind Lebanon of all that. It’s
the remembrance day of the Lebanese martyrs. Martyrs who fell under
Ottoman tyranny. And this necessity is not just related to the Armenian
community but to all of Lebanon in essence.