EXHIBIT ON RWANDA GENOCIDE OPENED IN THE UN
ArmRadio.am
02.05.2007 13:53
An exhibit on the lessons of the genocide in Rwanda opened on Monday,
three weeks after Turkey forced its delay because of references to
the murders of Armenians during World War One, Reuters reports.
The language on the Armenians was changed to say "Ottoman Empire"
instead of "Turkey" and does not include the number of people killed
on panels in the exhibit that include photos, statements and video
testimonies.
There was no immediate reaction from Turkey but Armenian envoys and
sponsors of the exhibit, the British-based Aegis, said they were
satisfied with the compromise.
Originally, the lettering on a panel said: "Following World War One,
during which 1 million Armenians were murdered in Turkey, Polish
lawyer Raphael Lemkin urged the League of Nations to recognize crimes
of barbarity as international crimes," Smith said.
The new wording says: "In 1933, the lawyer Raphael Lemkin, a Polish
Jew, urged the League of Nations to recognize mass atrocities against
a particular group as an international crime. He cited mass killings
of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in World War I and other mass
killings in history. He was ignored."
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the exhibit in commemoration of
the 13th anniversary of the Rwanda genocide, in which 800,000 people,
mainly Tutsis and moderate Hutus, were massacred by militant Hutus
in April 1994.
"Genocide never happens by chance. It takes time to plan and
organize. The warning signs are always there," one of the panels in
the exhibit said.