Armenian National Committee of Canada
Comité National Arménien du Canada
130 Albert St., Suite/Bureau 1007
Ottawa, ON
KIP 5G4
Tel./Tél. (613) 235-2622 Fax/Téléc. (613) 238-2622
E-mail/courriel:national.office@anc-canad a.com
April 24, 2008
Contact Roupen Kouyoumjian
Ken Hachikian is the chairman of Armenian National Committee of America.
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Denial stands in the way of the truth And without the truth, we can
never have justice
Sudan is today using Turkish arms to kill the people of Darfur.
I am truly honored to join with you today in offering our respect, our
thanks, and our admiration to the people and government of Canada.
As we are all aware, Canada’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide
both holds profound meaning for the Armenian nation and has sent a
powerful message to the government of Turkey as well as to those who
condone Turkey’s campaign of denial by looking the other way.
We also know that, in an important way, this principled stand says at
least as much about the people of this great nation than it does about
either the Turks or the Armenians.
The acknowledgement of this crime by your Parliament and Prime
Minister Stephen Harper – in the face of fierce foreign threats and
intimidation and no end of political pressure – speaks to Canada’s
courage in matching her actions with her ideals.
It also speaks to her special role as a worldwide leader in advancing
human rights.
And it speaks to her commitment to the heavy lifting of building the
international consensus behind the moral imperative that genocide must
be opposed unconditionally – whenever and wherever it is perpetrated.
What is at stake here goes beyond the recognition of a Turkish crime
and the justice long denied the Armenian nation.
Canada’s leadership, in speaking truthfully about the Armenian
Genocide, defines the type of nation her citizens deserve and the kind
of world we all seek.
Common humanity
In taking this step toward justice for the Armenian Genocide, Canada
served many noble aims, first and foremost among them the cause of our
collective conscience, our shared morality, and our common humanity as
citizens of the international community.
Just as the spirit of the Genocide Convention is diminished every time
a government compromises its opposition to genocide for reasons of
political expediency, so too, in equal measure, is the vitality of
this landmark treaty strengthened every time a country, such as
Canada, takes a principled stand in its defense. All the more so when
doing the right thing comes at a cost, as sadly we all know, in the
form of threats from the Turkish government.
Prevention of future genocides
In recognizing the Armenian Genocide, Canada helps prevent future
genocides, because the denial of such horrific crimes – left
unchallenged – only fosters an environment in which similar atrocities
will be committed again and again. It only emboldens future tyrants
to consider the wholesale slaughter of innocents as a tool of power,
secure in the knowledge that political leverage will shield them from
responsibility for their sins.
As Armenians, victims of genocide, we are owed a profound debt, but
also carry a special burden – much like the Jews, Pontians, Assyrians,
Cambodians, Rwandans, and, unfortunately, too many others – to bear
witness to the suffering visited upon our people. To make sure that
the horrors of our past are not repeated against any other people,
anywhere in the world.
As we watch the suffering in Darfur, and the lies being told by
Sudan’s brutal regime to hide their crimes, it is increasingly clear
that a vital part of ending the cycle of genocide is rejecting the
denial of past genocides.
The proof is there for all too see. Consider the very recent chilling
news of the growing military partnership between Sudan and Turkey.
The recent red-carpet, three day visit to Turkey by Sudan’s president.
Sudan is today using Turkish arms to kill the people of Darfur.
Sudan is today using the same tactics – including starvations and
deportations – used by the Ottoman Empire against Armenians in 1915.
And Sudan is today already employing the same hateful methods used by
Turkey to deny the Armenian Genocide.
Promotion of Armenia’s security
In recognizing the Armenian Genocide, Canada added a measure to
Armenia’s security, by signaling to the world that the Republic of
Armenia cannot be safe and will never be fully secure as long as she
is bordered by an unrepentant and over-armed perpetrator of genocide
against the Armenian people.
Denial, at its heart, does far more than threaten our past. It truly
threatens our future.
Support for Turkey’s reform and rehabilitation
And finally, in recognizing the Armenian Genocide, Canada performed a
true service to the Turkish people, a people who deserve better than
to be represented by a government that settles differences through
violence. A country that destroyed its Armenian population. Invaded
and still occupies Cyprus. Wiped out over 3,000 Kurdish villages over
the past generation. And, just in the last few months, twice invaded
northern Iraq.
The people of Turkey deserve better than a government that pursues
aggression, at home and abroad, promotes intolerance as state policy,
and then buries the inevitable problems that result under a growing
mountain of lies.
If reformers in Turkey are to realize their nation’s democratic
aspirations, their hopes for European integration, a vital and
necessary step in this process will be recognizing the Armenian
Genocide and, in dialogue with the key stakeholders of the Armenian
nation, reaching a just and appropriate resolution of this crime.
Sadly, we are today, far from this reality. Denial stands in the way
of the truth. And without the truth, we can never have justice.
Far from repentant, Turkey is escalating its campaign of denial.
Turkey continues to crack down on even the mere discussion of the
Armenian Genocide. Look at the events of the recent past:
Article 301 and other provisions of the newly adopted Turkish criminal
code establish prison terms of up to 3 years for even the mere mention
of the Armenian Genocide.
The prosecution, official intimidation, and subsequent brutal
assassination in January 2007 of journalist Hrant Dink stand as
evidence of Turkey’s escalating attacks on those who speak honestly
about the Armenian Genocide.
The prosecution of Orhan Pamuk – a Nobel Prize-winning author –
demonstrates Turkey’s efforts to silence even its most prominent
citizens who speak about the Armenian Genocide.
Turkey’s Minister of Education, as a formal state policy, requires
that schoolchildren be taught to deny the Armenian Genocide.
In all of these areas, and more, Turkey persists in its denials.
But not as before.
In years past, Turkey outright lied about the facts of the Genocide,
but, today, we see that it has failed to convince anyone beyond its
borders or outside its payroll of its false version of history.
More recently, Turkey sought to make the moral case AGAINST condemning
genocide, a flawed argument from the start, and one that was doomed to
fail.
Today, stripped of any academic trappings or moral cover, Turkey has
been reduced to making threats, outright warnings, and unvarnished
attempts at interference in and intimidation towards the democracies
of the West.
Behind every attack, every criticism, every attempt to delay, derail,
or defeat recognition, lies a Turkish threat.
To close a base.
To cut off a supply line.
To restrict air-space.
To recall an Ambassador.
To leave NATO or cancel arms contracts.
The list goes on. Turkey today, like the South Africa of the 1980s,
finds itself defending a morally bankrupt policy, unable to convince
anyone on the merits of their case, but trying desperately to use the
last of its political capital to force the world to look the other
way. This policy failed in South Africa – and Apartheid fell. It
will fail too in Turkey, and the walls of denial will come crumbling
down.
In Washington, Turkey’s high-priced lobbyists serve as little more
than messenger-boys, shuttling Ankara’s latest threats to
decision-makers in the White House, State Department, and Pentagon.
These attempts to intimidate are the same as the ones being made in
Brussels and around the world. They were the same as the ones made
right here in Ottawa, until the people and government of this proud
land stood tall, and rejected these threats as a matter of principle.
To your credit, you told Turkey and the world that other countries –
even allies – will never be allowed to compromise Canada’s
unconditional stand against all instances of genocide.
In the United States, we are not there yet.
Turkey’s threats – its overstated warnings of the direst consequences
– continue to impose a `gag-rule’ on the United States.
Turkey has exported its Article 301, which bans discussion of the
Armenian Genocide, to the United States, exercising a veto over what
the world’s most powerful nation can and cannot say about human
rights.
This veto and gag rule should not and will not stand.
My visit here reminds me of the words of the Reverend Martin Luther
King, Jr. who said that, `the arc of the moral universe is long but it
bends toward justice.’
I come here with a profound respect for the Canadian Armenian
community, a great admiration for the Canadian people and government,
and a renewed devotion to the hard work of justice.
We very much appreciate your support. In return, I personally commit
to you, in the memory of our sacred ancestors, that we will persevere
in our efforts to realize justice and never give up our struggle.
Thank you.
*****
The ANCC is the largest and the most influential Canadian-Armenian
grassroots political organization. Working in coordination with a
network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout Canada and
affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCC actively advances
the concerns of the Canadian-Armenian community on a broad range of
issues.
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Le CNAC est l’organisation politique canadienne-arménienne la plus
large et influentielle. Collaborant avec une série de bureaux,
chapitres et souteneurs à travers le Canada et des organisations
affiliées à travers le monde, le CNAC s’occupe activement des
inquiétudes de la communauté canadienne-arménienne.
Regional Chapters/Sections régionales
Montréal – Laval – Ottawa – Toronto – Hamilton – Cambridge – St. Catharines – Windsor – Vancouver