CANNON IDENTIFIES 1915 AS GENOCIDE DATE
by Mark Iype
Embassy Magazine
_1915-5-27-2009
May 27 2009
Canada
In an apparent about-face from comments made in April by a
parliamentary secretary in the House of Commons, Foreign Affairs
Minister Lawrence Cannon, in committee on Monday, referred only to
the year 1915 to describe the "suffering that the Ottomans inflicted
upon the Armenians."
On April 24, Rick Dykstra, parliamentary secretary to Immigration
Minister Jason Kenney, referred to the Armenian genocide of 1915
to 1923, the first public use by a Canadian official of those
dates. According to Turkey, extending the period to 1923 implicates
modern-day Turkey, rather than placing sole blame on the Ottoman
Empire.
In response to a question from Conservative committee member Lois
Brown, Mr. Cannon called Turkey a "cherished ally" and a country
Canada "admires." He said the basis of the government’s position
is the Armenian genocide recognition resolution which was passed in
the House in 2004. The Paul Martin government refused to adopt the
position as government policy at the time, but Prime Minister Stephen
Harper reversed that decision when he came to power. Turkey temporarily
recalled its ambassador to Canada in response to Mr. Harper’s move,
and did so again last month in response to a series of statements
and high-profile receptions on the Hill commemorating the Armenian
genocide.
In response to Mr. Cannon’s statement on Monday, an official from
the Turkish Embassy said Mr. Cannon’s comments have been noted and
passed along to Ankara, but the "substantive disagreement over what
is a legitimate scholarly debate still remains." He said that while
statements from DFAIT are always "constructive and measured," he
added that Turkey would like to interpret Mr. Cannon’s statement as a
"correction" of what Mr. Dykstra said, despite earlier assurances.
Mr. Cannon also said on Monday that Canada "strongly" supports
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation efforts, the boldest statement made
in regards to the month-old rapprochement. In an earlier interview
with Embassy, Turkish officials said they were baffled by Canada’s
silence after the April 23 announcement that the historic rivals
would attempt to normalize relations.
The foreign minister’s comments on Monday came as a welcome
announcement to the Turkish official, who said he was happy that
Canada could "finally express support" for the talks.