LEBANON’S ARMENIANS PROTEST OVER TURKISH PEACEKEEPERS
Burj Hammud, Lebanon
Agence France Presse — English
September 8, 2006 Friday 11:58 AM GMT
Lebanon’s Armenians, who have not forgotten the massacres their
people suffered under Ottoman rule, demonstrated Friday against
Turkish troops set to take part in a UN peacekeeping mission.
Waving Lebanese flags and banners denouncing Turkey as a murderous
state, several hundred gathered in this Beirut suburb heavily populated
by Armenians and appealed to the United Nations to reconsider Turkey’s
participation in an expanded UN force in Lebanon.
"Genocide, massacre, deportation: Turkey’s definition of peace,"
read one banner. Another said: "No to the participation of Turkish
forces among UN troops coming to Lebanon".
"We had 1.5 million of our people slaughtered under the Turks and
you expect us to welcome them?" angrily declared Arous Ghougassian,
the owner of a home furnishing business.
"I can assure you that I won’t sell them anything if they come into
my shop," she added.
Hagop, an employee at the Basterma Mano food store, raised his fists
in anger when asked about the Turkish UN force.
"Look at my arms, I get goose bumps when you refer to them," he said.
"If they dare come into our neighborhoods we’ll deal with them."
Lebanon’s minority Armenian community, which numbers about 140,000
people, has objected to Turkey taking part in the UN force because
of massacres of Armenians by Turks in 1915.
Representatives have sent letters to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
and to Western embassies in Beirut urging them to reject Turkish
participation in the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) set to
number 15,000 troops from various countries.
The Turkish parliament voted after fierce debate at an extraordinary
session Tuesday to authorize the government to send troops to take part
in the UN force to monitor the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has said the number of soldiers
is not likely to exceed 1,000.
Under the old Ottoman empire, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians are
said to have been killed or died after being forcibly driven from
their homes in Turkey between 1915 and 1917.