ARMENIANS PROTEST PROTOCOLS
AZG DAILY
29-09-2009
Armenia-Turkey
Thousands rally in the Pelanconi Park area against parts of proposed
deal with Turkey.
Chanting and signs filled Pelanconi Park and its surrounding streets
Sunday as thousands of people gathered to rally against the protocols
for new talks between Armenia and Turkey.
The talks are a part of a "road map" agreed upon last spring for
normalizing diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia and
opening the border between them. The proposed deal still must receive
Parliamentary approval from both countries.
The two countries have long clashed over the mass killings of
Armenians in 1915 at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey refuses
to categorize the deaths as genocide and has strongly fought against
any formal recognition of the massacres.
The event was organized by the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party, the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the Armenian Democratic Liberal
Party and the Unified Young Armenians. Leaders from the organizations
met following the announcement of the protocols and joined together
in opposing them.
On Sunday, thousands of people came from all over California as well
as neighboring states. Thirty-seven buses brought people from across
the Los Angeles area, while many others were forced to park blocks
away. They streamed onto Grandview Avenue, which was blocked off from
traffic with a police blockade.
Those in attendance expressed anger about the protocols, which would
which they said were not fair to Armenia.
"Don’t give in to Turkey," they chanted in Armenian. "Stand up and
fight until the end."
Arek Santikian, chairman of the Armenian Youth Federation’s western
region, said the event’s organizers expected more than 10,000 people
to attend what he emphasized was a rally for people to voice their
opinions that Armenia should not agree to the protocols.
"It’s all of the Armenian community rallying together," he said.
The most controversial facet of the p istorical commission to question
the validity of the Armenian Genocide.
"That would make what has become a political issue into a historical
issue," Santikian said.
Glendale High School senior Salpi Topjian and Hoover High School
senior Annabelle Mehrabian said they came out to the event because
the Armenian Genocide is something that must not be forgotten.
Still, they said they were shocked by the number of people in
attendance.
"They really want to show their support for Armenia," Mehrabian said,
GlendaleNewsPress reported.