PM'S GENOCIDE COMMENT STIRS UP A STORM
May 10th, 2006
Embassy, NEWS STORY
By Brian Adeba
Even before Stephen Harper was elected prime minister, members of the Armenian community met him in Toronto last October to press their main issues of concern, top among which is the Armenian genocide. A message posted on the website of the Armenian Prelacy of Canada says Mr. Harper initiated the meeting.
The discussion didn't turn heads until April 21, the annivesary of the death of 1.5 million Armenians. That's when Mr. Harper's described the situation as "genocide" the first for a sitting Canadian prime minister. The statement has sparked a diplomatic furore with Turkey, which temporally recalled its ambassador to Canada in protest. Prior to Mr. Harper's public endorsement, a dedicated Armenian lobbying effort, working quietly behind the scenes to get a high-ranking member of Canada's government to formally recognize the genocide, had already been set in motion.
"We discussed the genocide, the importance of bringing the executive branch to fully recognize the genocide and being consistent with the legislative branch," says Aris Babikian, Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC), which last month formally opened an office in Ottawa. The ANCC now has chapters in 10 Canadian cities to serve the estimated 80,000 strong Armenian Diaspora in Canada.
At the Toronto meeting with Mr. Harper, Mr. Babikian says the future prime minister promised to "support any statement to recognise the genocide."
"He said for him, this is not a political issue, but an issue of principle," Mr. Babikian says.
On April 2004, Mr. Harper, then leader of the now defunct Canadian Alliance party, was among the 153 MPs who voted in favour of a Bloc Québécois motion to recognize that Turkey committed genocide against Armenians in 1915. The motion passed with 153 votes against 68. Liberal backbenchers broke ranks with Prime Minister Paul Martin to vote for the motion. Despite the considerable number of Liberal MPs who supported the motion, Mr. Martin refrained from publicly endorsing the genocide. In fact, on the day of the vote, Hansard records show he was absent.
On March 23, 2006, an Armenian delegation including a high-ranking religious leader from Lebanon met Mr. Harper at his office in Ottawa. Mr. Babikian says the discussions touched on bilateral issues, including the possibility of opening a Canadian embassy in Armenia, and also the genocide.
"Once [Mr. Harper] became prime minister, we asked him to uphold his position [on the genocide]," says Mr. Babikian. In April at the opening of the offices of the ANCC, Conservative MP Jason Kenny, who is Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, attended the event.
"He congratulated the community for finally taking this step [opening the office]," says Mr. Babikian, who adds that the ANCC has known Mr. Kenny since 2004, after the MP visited Rome during an occasion when an Armenian priest killed during the genocide was named a saint by the Pope. On May 1, during a debate on Darfur in the House of Commons, Mr. Kenny commended Mr. Harper for having the "courage" to recognize the "historical reality of the first genocide of the last century, the Armenian genocide."
But as the Armenian Diaspora's lobbying effort seems to be growing in influence with the new Tory government, the Turkish community in Canada is up in arms, sounding alarm bells about being sidelined by the Harper government.
"Our viewpoint is never considered," says Kevser Taymaz, an executive of the Federation of Canadian Turkish Associations. After Mr. Harper met an Armenian delegation in March, Ms. Taymaz says the Turkish community wrote a letter to the prime minister requesting a similar meeting, but were referred to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
"I don't know if [Mr. Harper] will meet us," she says. "We are being deliberately sidelined."
"If [the Harper government is] talking about votes, there are 100,000 Canadians of Turkish origin in Canada," Ms. Taymaz says. She also condemns Canadian politicians for "listening to the views of the Armenian lobby."
"We are very concerned and worried that these claims of genocide are finding reflection at that level in Canada," says Mr. Tezel.
"It is very serious, it is an attack on us," he says. Asked what kind of reciprocal measures Turkey would take, Mr. Tezel says he is not in position to divulge any information.
Kim Girtel, a spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Canada, says the department was notified last Thursday that the Turkish ambassador is being recalled for "consultations for a short time" in Ankara. "These consultations are internal to the government of Turkey and we will not speculate at this time," she says.
Dmitri Kitsikis, an expert on Turkey and professor of international relations at the University of Ottawa, says the diplomatic spat is not likely to last long because it is a symbolic move designed to appease the Turkish military, the real power brokers in the country.
Mr. Kitsikis says the Turkish military, who are the custodians of the country's secular politics has had an uneasy relationship with the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who heads a moderate Islamist party.
"The victim is Mr. Erdogan himself, the military could step in and take power," says Mr. Kitsikis, who adds that Mr. Harper's comments on the Armenian genocide do not help democracy in Turkey.
"Why did he say that except if he wants a coup in Turkey," Mr. Kitsikis says.
Embassy, NEWS STORY
By Brian Adeba
Even before Stephen Harper was elected prime minister, members of the Armenian community met him in Toronto last October to press their main issues of concern, top among which is the Armenian genocide. A message posted on the website of the Armenian Prelacy of Canada says Mr. Harper initiated the meeting.
The discussion didn't turn heads until April 21, the annivesary of the death of 1.5 million Armenians. That's when Mr. Harper's described the situation as "genocide" the first for a sitting Canadian prime minister. The statement has sparked a diplomatic furore with Turkey, which temporally recalled its ambassador to Canada in protest. Prior to Mr. Harper's public endorsement, a dedicated Armenian lobbying effort, working quietly behind the scenes to get a high-ranking member of Canada's government to formally recognize the genocide, had already been set in motion.
"We discussed the genocide, the importance of bringing the executive branch to fully recognize the genocide and being consistent with the legislative branch," says Aris Babikian, Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC), which last month formally opened an office in Ottawa. The ANCC now has chapters in 10 Canadian cities to serve the estimated 80,000 strong Armenian Diaspora in Canada.
At the Toronto meeting with Mr. Harper, Mr. Babikian says the future prime minister promised to "support any statement to recognise the genocide."
"He said for him, this is not a political issue, but an issue of principle," Mr. Babikian says.
On April 2004, Mr. Harper, then leader of the now defunct Canadian Alliance party, was among the 153 MPs who voted in favour of a Bloc Québécois motion to recognize that Turkey committed genocide against Armenians in 1915. The motion passed with 153 votes against 68. Liberal backbenchers broke ranks with Prime Minister Paul Martin to vote for the motion. Despite the considerable number of Liberal MPs who supported the motion, Mr. Martin refrained from publicly endorsing the genocide. In fact, on the day of the vote, Hansard records show he was absent.
On March 23, 2006, an Armenian delegation including a high-ranking religious leader from Lebanon met Mr. Harper at his office in Ottawa. Mr. Babikian says the discussions touched on bilateral issues, including the possibility of opening a Canadian embassy in Armenia, and also the genocide.
"Once [Mr. Harper] became prime minister, we asked him to uphold his position [on the genocide]," says Mr. Babikian. In April at the opening of the offices of the ANCC, Conservative MP Jason Kenny, who is Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, attended the event.
"He congratulated the community for finally taking this step [opening the office]," says Mr. Babikian, who adds that the ANCC has known Mr. Kenny since 2004, after the MP visited Rome during an occasion when an Armenian priest killed during the genocide was named a saint by the Pope. On May 1, during a debate on Darfur in the House of Commons, Mr. Kenny commended Mr. Harper for having the "courage" to recognize the "historical reality of the first genocide of the last century, the Armenian genocide."
But as the Armenian Diaspora's lobbying effort seems to be growing in influence with the new Tory government, the Turkish community in Canada is up in arms, sounding alarm bells about being sidelined by the Harper government.
"Our viewpoint is never considered," says Kevser Taymaz, an executive of the Federation of Canadian Turkish Associations. After Mr. Harper met an Armenian delegation in March, Ms. Taymaz says the Turkish community wrote a letter to the prime minister requesting a similar meeting, but were referred to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
"I don't know if [Mr. Harper] will meet us," she says. "We are being deliberately sidelined."
"If [the Harper government is] talking about votes, there are 100,000 Canadians of Turkish origin in Canada," Ms. Taymaz says. She also condemns Canadian politicians for "listening to the views of the Armenian lobby."
Unfortunately the truth does not reside in numbers. Turkey has created a Turkish view while all the while it remains a human rights case. The question is Turkey's treatment of its minorities and the concept of "Punishment for Insulting the Turkishness" enacted into law, a racist and out of place concept indeed. If Ms. Taymaz counts numbers and says 100,000 Canadians of Turkish origin out of whom $25,000 are Turks the others being Azeris from Iran, Turks from Central Asia, Turks from Cyprus, Turks from the Balkans, and even Moslems of Northern China. Can Armenians include all the Greeks, Kurds, Assyrians and Pontiacs who suffered and are still suffering in Turkey? Just playing the numbers game, that is.
"History cannot be decided upon by political lobbying," she says. "Here in Ottawa, we have people who lost their relatives to the Armenian bandits [in 1915]."This is pure fiction. Like you have suffered but in your largess you have put everything behind. If you had really suffered Ms. Taymaz you would have been crying foul long time ago. It is too late and convenient to do it now.
Ms. Taymaz also says people of Turkish origin are not used to the idea of lobbying governments because "we have come to terms with the past [regarding the genocide]."How convenient Ms Taymaz "we have come to terms with the past". What you have come to terms with is in hiding and worst denying the past. Like a murderer who had counted the stolen money and has come to terms with the murder by justifying it. Come to terms with indeed.
She added that Armenian children in Canada are being raised on a diet of hatred towards Turks and Turkey, and that this does not bode well for Canada as a whole.If the truth which could lead to reconciliation is perceived as hatred, Ms. Taymaz should revise her own philosophy and stop teaching Canada on democracy.
"Now we know Canadian companies will be left out of bids," she says of a story circulating in Turkish media following the recall of Aydemir Erman, Turkey's Ambassador to Canada, last week.This sounds to me like blackmail Ms. Taymaz. Do you think that Turkey will achieve anything through blackmail?
Yonet Tezel, Counsellor at the Embassy of Turkey, says Mr. Erman was called to Turkey for consultations, but could not say when the envoy will be back in Ottawa."We are very concerned and worried that these claims of genocide are finding reflection at that level in Canada," says Mr. Tezel.
"It is very serious, it is an attack on us," he says. Asked what kind of reciprocal measures Turkey would take, Mr. Tezel says he is not in position to divulge any information.
Kim Girtel, a spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Canada, says the department was notified last Thursday that the Turkish ambassador is being recalled for "consultations for a short time" in Ankara. "These consultations are internal to the government of Turkey and we will not speculate at this time," she says.
Dmitri Kitsikis, an expert on Turkey and professor of international relations at the University of Ottawa, says the diplomatic spat is not likely to last long because it is a symbolic move designed to appease the Turkish military, the real power brokers in the country.
Mr. Kitsikis says the Turkish military, who are the custodians of the country's secular politics has had an uneasy relationship with the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who heads a moderate Islamist party.
"The victim is Mr. Erdogan himself, the military could step in and take power," says Mr. Kitsikis, who adds that Mr. Harper's comments on the Armenian genocide do not help democracy in Turkey.
"Why did he say that except if he wants a coup in Turkey," Mr. Kitsikis says.
Mr. Kitsikis, acquiescing to Turkish military in order to appease them is not the answer. Turkey has always played that game and got away with it. If democracy is to bud in Turkey "moderate Islamist party" or not, it has to be at the grass roots level. Fortunately that process has started already by many conscientious Turks. Harper's comments comes as a boost to those Turks. We must support those Turks who despite the military have chosen the path to follow their conscience. PM Harper did the right thing by recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
brian@embassymag.ca
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 9:05 AM
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