ARMENIANS COMMEMORATE ANNIVERSARY OF TRAGIC EVENTS OF 1915
ABHaber, Belgium
April 25 2006
Demonstrators marched in Yerevan, Armenia on Sunday to commemorate
the Armenians who died ib 1915 due to forced deportation and ethnic
conflict in the Ottoman Empire.
The Armenian diaspora also took to the streets in various cities in
the U.S. and several capitals in Europe over the weekend demanding
recognition for so-called genocide claims, while Turkish and Azeri
diaspora made counter-demonstrations.
Over the weekend New York’s famous Times Square played host to
Turkish counter-demonstrations. Turks living in the US organized a
rally entitled “End to Armenian Lies.”
Many Turks including Turkey’s Consul General to New York Omer Onhon and
Turkish Americans attended the demonstration held by the Federation
of Turkish-American Associations (FTAA) and Association of Young
Turks. “This march is Turkish society’s reaction to the constant
repetition of the Armenians’ baseless allegations,” said Onhon.
In related news, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in a letter
to Armenian diaspora members backed the genocide claims.
“In recent years the Senate of Canada adopted a motion acknowledging
this period as “the first genocide of the twentieth century,” while
the House of Commons adopted a motion that “acknowledges the Armenian
genocide of 1915 and condemns this act as a crime against humanity.”
My party and I supported those resolutions, and continue to recognize
them today,” Harper said.
Ankara and Yerevan are at odds over the Armenian claims of genocide.
To break the deadlock, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last
year suggested the establishment of a committee of Turkish and Armenian
historians to study the claims, in a letter sent to Armenian President
Robert Kocharian. But Kocharian refused Erdogan’s proposal, saying that
the two countries must first establish diplomatic relations and that
committees could be formed only within the process of normalization
of relations.