Turkey's diplomatic trials

Ottawa Citizen
November 8, 2006 Wednesday
Final Edition
by Jennifer Campbell, The Ottawa Citizen

Talk about a last-minute change of heart. Organizers of an academic
conference on Turkey scheduled for last Friday received word from the
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade that morning
that the funding they'd been promised was being yanked.

The one-day conference went ahead anyway but the surprise
announcement left some wondering about the department's motives.

Turkish Ambassador Aydemir Erman was typically diplomatic. He
admitted the department withdrew its support but added it still sent
a representative to the conference. Foreign Affairs director Peter
Lundy gave an overview about bilateral relations but wouldn't speak
to the media.

Spokeswoman Catherine Gagnaire said the department had hoped the
conference would remain focused on Turkey and Canada.

"As controversies developed relating to Turkey's differences with
other countries including Armenia and Cyprus, this shifted the focus
of the conference," Ms. Gagnaire said in an e-mail. "Consequently,
the department withdrew its official sponsorship."

The federal funding withdrawal came days after Foreign Affairs
Minister Peter MacKay showed up at a reception for the newly formed
Canada-Turkey Parliamentary Friendship Group and spoke encouragingly
about Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's proposal to
strike a joint historical commission to examine facts about what the
Turks call the "Armenian tragedy" and what the Armenians prefer to
label a genocide.

In May, Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the 1915 atrocities a
genocide, a move that led to the Turkish government calling Mr. Erman
home for high-level consultations.

It's not clear whether Armenian protesters outside old city hall the
morning of the conference had anything to do with Foreign Affairs'
decision. They were handing out material discrediting scholar Guenter
Lewy, a professor from the University of Massachusetts who delivered
a paper titled "History as a Present Day Problem: The Ottoman Armenia
Question."

Mr. Lewy says he's met by Armenians wherever he goes.