UN APOLOGIZES TO RWANDA OVER POSTPONED GENOCIDE EXHIBIT: ENVOY
Agence France Presse — English
April 11, 2007 Wednesday 9:19 PM GMT
The UN has apologized for postponing the opening of an exhibit marking
the anniversary of the 1994 Rwanda genocide over Turkish objections to
a reference to the killing of Armenians in Turkey during World War I,
the Rwandan ambassador said Wednesday.
"We were contacted by UN Under Secretary General (for public
information Kiyotaka Akasaka) who told me they are reviewing the
text (of the exhibit)," Rwanda’s permanent UN representative Joseph
Nsengimana told AFP. "He apologizes. The exhibit will (officially)
open very soon."
The exhibit, which was to have been inaugurated by UN chief Ban Ki-moon
Monday, is meant to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the Rwandan
genocide during which Hutu extremists killed some 800,000 people,
most of them ethnic minority Tutsis.
Farhan Haq, a UN spokesman, said the controversy arose when a Turkish
diplomat walked by the exhibit as it was being put up last week
and complained about a reference to the killing of several hundred
thousand Armenians in Turkey during World War I.
He said the reference was on a small panel with a quotation from
Raphael Lemkin, the Polish-born Jewish lawyer who coined the
word genocide in 1943, had earlier shown interest in the Armenian
"genocide" and campaigned in the League of Nations to ban what he
called "barbarity" and "vandalism."
Turkey, the successor of the Ottoman Empire, categorically denies
claims of genocide and says thousands of Turks and Armenians were
killed in civil strife during 1915-1917 when Armenians took up arms
for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided with Russian troops
invading the crumbling empire.
Much to Turkey’s ire, many countries have recognized the killings
as genocide.
Haq said a review panel made up of officials of the UN departments
of public information and political affairs as well as those with
expertise in genocide affairs would now look over the photographs
and the text of the exhibit ahead of the inauguration.
"This is what they were supposed to have done," he said. "I am hoping
it will be very quick."
The exhibit is partly organized by Aegis Trust, a British-based
international organization lobbying to prevent genocide worldwide.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
