ANCC Condemns UN Censorship
April 16, 2007
ANCC
For Immediate Release
Contact: Kevork Manguelian Tel. (613) 235-2622
Ottawa—The Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC) sent a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon condemning his Undersecretary-general for Communications and Public Information Kiyotaka Akasaka’s decision to delay the opening of Aegis Trust’s "Lessons from Rwanda" exhibition at the organization's headquarters in New York City.
The exhibition, to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the Tutsi Genocide in Rwanda, would have been inaugurated by Mr. Ban Ki-Moon on Monday 9th April.
To recall the historical continuity of the genocide processes, one of the exhibition display panels said: “After the First World War, during which one million Armenians were killed in Turkey, the Polish lawyer Raphaël Lemkin urged the Society of Nations to recognize barbarian crimes as international crimes."
ANCC president Jean Meguerditchian said in his letter that he considered the UN under-secretary decision's to cancel the exhibition “giving in to the Turkish Government’s revisionist point of view and to blatant political blackmail… a fatal mistake for the UN as the moral compass of the world.”
“The UN is sending a twisted message to all those who in the future would contemplate the elimination of a nation or a race,” ANCC president's letter pointed out.
Meguerditchian called on the secretary-general and the UN not to “be selective in their condemnation or the punishment of the guilty. Otherwise, your organization would become an accomplice to genocide denial, the last act of all genocides. Your misconceived action would set a precedent for the future denial of the Holocaust and other genocides,” he said.
The ANCC calls on the UN to reverse its decision and relaunch the exhibition without any change from its original content.
“The ANCC would like to take this opportunity to commend the Aegis Trust for its principled, moral and ethical stand to uphold their initial decision and not cave in to Turkey's representatives and to UN officials by deleting the Armenian Genocide reference from the exhibit,” said Aris Babikian, the executive director of the ANCC.
-30-
ANCC LETTER TEXT
April 10, 2007
Your Excellency Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General
United Nations
One United Nations Plaza
New York, NY
10017
Dear Secretary General,
Canadians at large and Canadian-Armenians in particular are dismayed with Undersecretary-general for communications and public information Kiyotaka Akasaka’s decision to delay the opening of Aegis Trust’s "Lessons from Rwanda" exhibition at the United Nations in New York City.
At a time when the UN and the international community is pledging to take effective and resolute measures to eradicate the scourge of genocide, Mr. Akasaka is shutting down an important communication medium that would help prevent genocides and ethnic cleansing by educating viewers about learning from the mistakes of the past.
Your action to obscure any mention of the Armenian Genocide is particularly ironic since it was your organization that requested Raphael Lemkin to draft your Charter on Genocide prevention. We are confident that had Mr. Lemkin were alive today he would have been outraged by your decision. What you have conspired to do is an insult to Mr. Lemkin and to all who have worked and have devoted their lives to prevent such heinous crimes as genocide from reoccurring.
By giving in to the Turkish Government’s revisionist point of view and to blatant political blackmail, the UN has undermined its own credibility. Such a decision is a fatal mistake for the UN as the moral compass of the world.
The words of James Smith, chief executive of the Aegis Trust were true and eloquent: "If we can't get this right, it undermines all the values of the U.N. It undermines everything the U.N. is meant to stand for in terms of preventing (genocide) . . . You can't learn the lessons from history if you're going to sweep all of that history under the carpet. And what about accountability? What about ending impunity if you're going to hide part of the truth? It makes a mockery of all of this." Mr. Smith’s words summed up the moral and ethical justification to reopen the exhibit as it was originally planned.
By canceling the exhibit or by deleting any reference to the Armenian Genocide, the UN is sending a twisted message to all those who in the future would contemplate the elimination of a nation or a race.
In contrast, by upholding its initial decision, the UN and the international community can send a clear and unequivocal message to the despots of the world that the international community will not tolerate such vile treatment of our fellow human beings and will not allow the denial machine to operate with impunity.
Genocide prevention is the most important issue facing mankind. The UN can not be selective in its condemnation or punishment of the guilty. Otherwise, your organization would become an accomplice to genocide denial, the last act of all genocides. Your misconceived action would set a precedent for the future denial of the Holocaust and other genocides.
We have already seen that a number of countries are learning from the Turkish Government’s denial policy. Encouraged by the impunity granted to Turkey, they have launched genocides in Rwanda and in Darfur.
The UN cannot allow Hitler’s contemptuous remark: “Who remembers nowadays the Armenians?” to haunt humanity forever.
Respectfully,
Jean Meguerditchian
President
ANCC
For Immediate Release
Contact: Kevork Manguelian Tel. (613) 235-2622
Ottawa—The Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC) sent a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon condemning his Undersecretary-general for Communications and Public Information Kiyotaka Akasaka’s decision to delay the opening of Aegis Trust’s "Lessons from Rwanda" exhibition at the organization's headquarters in New York City.
The exhibition, to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the Tutsi Genocide in Rwanda, would have been inaugurated by Mr. Ban Ki-Moon on Monday 9th April.
To recall the historical continuity of the genocide processes, one of the exhibition display panels said: “After the First World War, during which one million Armenians were killed in Turkey, the Polish lawyer Raphaël Lemkin urged the Society of Nations to recognize barbarian crimes as international crimes."
ANCC president Jean Meguerditchian said in his letter that he considered the UN under-secretary decision's to cancel the exhibition “giving in to the Turkish Government’s revisionist point of view and to blatant political blackmail… a fatal mistake for the UN as the moral compass of the world.”
“The UN is sending a twisted message to all those who in the future would contemplate the elimination of a nation or a race,” ANCC president's letter pointed out.
Meguerditchian called on the secretary-general and the UN not to “be selective in their condemnation or the punishment of the guilty. Otherwise, your organization would become an accomplice to genocide denial, the last act of all genocides. Your misconceived action would set a precedent for the future denial of the Holocaust and other genocides,” he said.
The ANCC calls on the UN to reverse its decision and relaunch the exhibition without any change from its original content.
“The ANCC would like to take this opportunity to commend the Aegis Trust for its principled, moral and ethical stand to uphold their initial decision and not cave in to Turkey's representatives and to UN officials by deleting the Armenian Genocide reference from the exhibit,” said Aris Babikian, the executive director of the ANCC.
-30-
ANCC LETTER TEXT
April 10, 2007
Your Excellency Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General
United Nations
One United Nations Plaza
New York, NY
10017
Dear Secretary General,
Canadians at large and Canadian-Armenians in particular are dismayed with Undersecretary-general for communications and public information Kiyotaka Akasaka’s decision to delay the opening of Aegis Trust’s "Lessons from Rwanda" exhibition at the United Nations in New York City.
At a time when the UN and the international community is pledging to take effective and resolute measures to eradicate the scourge of genocide, Mr. Akasaka is shutting down an important communication medium that would help prevent genocides and ethnic cleansing by educating viewers about learning from the mistakes of the past.
Your action to obscure any mention of the Armenian Genocide is particularly ironic since it was your organization that requested Raphael Lemkin to draft your Charter on Genocide prevention. We are confident that had Mr. Lemkin were alive today he would have been outraged by your decision. What you have conspired to do is an insult to Mr. Lemkin and to all who have worked and have devoted their lives to prevent such heinous crimes as genocide from reoccurring.
By giving in to the Turkish Government’s revisionist point of view and to blatant political blackmail, the UN has undermined its own credibility. Such a decision is a fatal mistake for the UN as the moral compass of the world.
The words of James Smith, chief executive of the Aegis Trust were true and eloquent: "If we can't get this right, it undermines all the values of the U.N. It undermines everything the U.N. is meant to stand for in terms of preventing (genocide) . . . You can't learn the lessons from history if you're going to sweep all of that history under the carpet. And what about accountability? What about ending impunity if you're going to hide part of the truth? It makes a mockery of all of this." Mr. Smith’s words summed up the moral and ethical justification to reopen the exhibit as it was originally planned.
By canceling the exhibit or by deleting any reference to the Armenian Genocide, the UN is sending a twisted message to all those who in the future would contemplate the elimination of a nation or a race.
In contrast, by upholding its initial decision, the UN and the international community can send a clear and unequivocal message to the despots of the world that the international community will not tolerate such vile treatment of our fellow human beings and will not allow the denial machine to operate with impunity.
Genocide prevention is the most important issue facing mankind. The UN can not be selective in its condemnation or punishment of the guilty. Otherwise, your organization would become an accomplice to genocide denial, the last act of all genocides. Your misconceived action would set a precedent for the future denial of the Holocaust and other genocides.
We have already seen that a number of countries are learning from the Turkish Government’s denial policy. Encouraged by the impunity granted to Turkey, they have launched genocides in Rwanda and in Darfur.
The UN cannot allow Hitler’s contemptuous remark: “Who remembers nowadays the Armenians?” to haunt humanity forever.
Respectfully,
Jean Meguerditchian
President
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