LEBANON’S ARMENIANS PROTEST PRESIDENT VISIT

Associated Press
2009-10-07 12:40 AM

Thousands of Lebanese of Armenian descent held a peaceful protest
in Beirut Tuesday at the start of a visit by Armenia’s president who
has announced plans to establish relations with Turkey.

Nearly 2,000 angry protesters gathered around the hotel east of
Beirut where President Serge Sarkisian will be staying during his
two-day visit.

There are 150,000 Armenians in Lebanon, or nearly 4 percent of the
population.

Sarkisian’s tour of the Diaspora Armenian communities around the world
aims to raise support for his landmark bid for diplomatic ties with
Turkey after a century of enmity.

The killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians under the Ottoman Empire in
1915 has been the main barrier to reconciliation. Armenians have long
fought to persuade other governments to consider it a genocide. Turkey
rejects the label and says the death toll is inflated.

Hundreds of riot police and soldiers surrounded the Metropolitan
Palace Hotel as the demonstrators waved Armenian flags and banners
in Armenian reading "we will not forget" and "we will struggle."

Sarkisian’s tour dubbed a "pan-Armenian tour" has so far taken him
to Paris, New York and Los Angeles. After Lebanon, he will head to
Rostov-on-Don in Russia to discuss a planned meeting Oct. 10 when the
Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers are expected to sign the deal
to establish ties.

Last month, Turkey and Armenia said they would set aside hostilities
and establish diplomatic ties in favor of practical concerns such as
oil interests and Turkey’s EU membership bid.

Armenians in their poor, isolated homeland are more eager to improve
ties with Turkey than many in the vast Armenian Diaspora.

Armenians abroad _ estimated at 5.7 million _ outnumber the 3.2 million
living in Armenia itself, the smallest of the ex-Soviet republics. The
largest communities are in Russia (2 million), the United States
(1.4 million), according to government data.