Turkey warns Canada not to issue genocide declaration

Wednesday, April 25, 2007
ANKARA – Turkish Daily News

It is high time that nations stand up and be counted. We have a bully nation in our midst.

Turkey warned Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper last week not to issue an April 24 declaration where the incidents of 1915 are defined as genocide, a day of commemoration for Armenians but a nightmare for Turkish diplomats. The Canadian Parliament recognized the Armenian genocide and Harper became one of the few heads of state to use the word “genocide” in his written statement during 2006.

Wary of these genocide claims spreading to other countries including the United States, Turkey is trying hard to block efforts by the Armenian diaspora in almost every country in the world.

The Turkish Daily News has learned that Canadian Prime Minister Harper was warned through diplomatic channels last week that “repeating these claims annually will not help in normalizing Turkey-Armenia relations and will harm Turkish-Canadian bilateral relations as well.” “We hope that the Canadian PM will not repeat this year what he did last year,” a high-level Foreign Ministry official told the TDN.

Ankara made the same diplomatic attempt with the United States before April 24 where President George W. Bush also issues a declaration. Turkish officials said Ankara is not expecting Bush to use the word genocide. U.S. presidents prefer to define the incidents in 1915 as a massacre.

Meanwhile the Turkish Foreign Ministry published advertisements in four major U.S. newspapers, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Times and Politico. The advertisement says that Turkey has given assurances for the opening of all archives and expects the same by other parties. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, speaking to reporters during the April 23 reception in Parliament said, The New York Times decision in particular to publish the advertisement was a good step for Turkey to promote its own views about what occurred in 1915.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.