turkey Threatens Canada

[Varouj]

Turkey criticizes Canadian PM for backing recognition of Armenian genocide

Canadian Press
Published: Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Article tools


ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey on Tuesday criticized Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper for remarks he made in support of recognizing the mass killings of Armenians during the First World War as genocide, and warned that such statements threatened to harm Turkish-Canadian relations.

In a statement on April 21, Harper recalled that Canada's Senate and House of Commons had adopted resolutions recognizing the killings as genocide and said, "I and my party supported those resolutions and continue to recognize them today."

Turkey's Foreign Ministry issued a stern statement saying it "regretted" Harper's remarks over the killings that occurred more than eight decades ago.

"Statements concerning disputed historic events by foreign parliaments or governments nearly a century later will not change the nature of what happened in reality," the statement said.

"Such statements do not contribute to the environment of dialogue between Turkey and Armenia, and have a negative effect on Turkish-Canadian relations," it added. "The stagnation of relations between the two countries after the Canadian Parliament's decision . . . is the clearest example of this."

Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper reported Tuesday that Turkey would bar Canadian companies from bidding for the construction of a nuclear power plant that Turkey hopes to build in the Black Sea coastal town of Sinop.

In 2001, Turkey cancelled millions of dollars' worth of defence deals with French companies after legislators in France recognized the genocide.

Armenians say some 1.5 million of their people were killed as the Ottoman Empire forced them from eastern Turkey between 1915 and 1923 in a deliberate campaign of genocide.

Turkey denies it was genocide, saying the death count is inflated and insisting that Armenians were killed or displaced as the Ottoman Empire tried to secure its border with Russia and stop attacks by Armenian militants.

Several other countries, including Argentina, Poland, France and Russia, have declared the killings a genocide, and there is strong pressure from Armenians worldwide for the U.S. Congress to recognize the killings as genocide as well.

© The Canadian Press 2006

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/st...74b94b1&k=43170

[1.5 million]

I have a suggestion for a new title to this article:

"Gulity Turks again look stupid and unrepentent as they once again make meaningless threats to perserve their fiction of innocence that only they believe - what will they do next to futher confrim the worlds belief that they are unworthy to join the modern community of nations?"

[Gavur]

Turkey Recalls Envoys to France, Canada

Bloomberg
May 8 2006

Turkey Recalls Envoys to France, Canada Over Genocide Dispute


May 8 (Bloomberg) -- Turkey recalled its envoys to France and Canada
because of disagreements with both countries over whether the
killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks last century constitute
genocide.

Turkey's ambassador to Paris Osman Koruturk and ambassador to Ottawa
Aydemir Erman have returned to the capital Ankara for
``consultations'' following ``baseless claims of genocide of
Armenians,'' Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Namik Tan said in an
e-mailed statement today.

``It is expected that our ambassadors will return to their duties
once the consultations are complete,'' Tan said.

The EU has said Turkey's bid to join the bloc may be hindered by the
claims of genocide against hundreds of thousands of Armenians during
the First World War. Turkey denies the charges, saying the deaths
were part of wider ethnic clashes as Armenians sided with Russia
during the war.

Turkey recalled its envoy to France prior to a debate by French
lawmakers on May 18 about a law that foresees a one-year jail term
and a 45,000-euro ($58,000) fine for persons who deny that genocide
took place. Turkey's parliament is sending a delegation to France
tomorrow in order to convince their French counterparts not to pass
the bill, said Bulent Arinc, chief of the Turkish legislature,
according to the Hurriyet newspaper.

The French National Assembly in May 1998 formally recognized as
genocide the killing of Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire
between 1915 and 1917.

Turkey's foreign ministry on April 25 accused Canadian Prime Minister
Stephen Harper of exhibiting a ``gravely prejudiced attitude'' after
he said that his government continued to recognize motions adopted by
the Canadian senate and parliament acknowledging that the genocide
took place.

Turkey may bar French companies from bidding for a planned nuclear
power station and other projects if France approves the legislation,
Milliyet daily said on May 1, without saying where it got the
information.

[Gavur]

Cast your vote - results

The Gazette (Montreal)
May 8, 2006 Monday
Final Edition

Cast Your Vote


Yesterday's question was: Do you think Stephen Harper was right to
acknowledge the 1915 Armenian genocide?

Yes: 97% of votes
No: 3%

[Gavur]

Parliament delegation to travel to France over Armenian bill

Hürriyet, Turkey
May 8 2006





Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc said on Sunday that a delegation of
four parliamentarians is planning to travel to France tomorrow.
Speaking to reporters, Arinc, currently paying an official visit to
Sweden, stated that France's Parliament is set to debate a bill
concerning the so-called Armenian genocide on May 18, adding that the
Turkish parliamentarians will hold a series of talks with their
France counterparts to convince them not to pass the bill.


Regarding the issue, Arinc also sent a message to France Parliament
Speaker Jean-Louis Debre last month.

[Gavur]

Remembering the past is an attack on Turkey, says ambassador

http://nodhimmitude.blogspot.com/

A few weeks ago we reported on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's good memory, as evidenced by remarks made during an April 19 press conference: the new Prime Minister acknowledged that the Armenian genocide had taken place during the first World War.

Well, it seems that this knowledge of history has not put Canada in the good books of the moderate and peaceful nation of Turkey...

For having discussed history, Turkey has now been attacked!
At least, according to the Turkish ambassador, which is why he's left Canada, according to this piece from the Ottawa Citizen:
(emphasized comments mine)

Turkey has recalled its ambassador to Canada as the country plots a response to Stephen Harper's recent acknowledgement of the 1915 Armenian genocide....

The prime minister's statement April 19 to mark the "sombre anniversary" -- the first time that Canada has made one -- has ignited a furore in Ankara that appears set to boil over.
An official at the Turkish Embassy in Ottawa told CanWest News Service that Aydemir Erman has not been formally withdrawn from Canada over the prime minister's comments, but he has been "called back" to Turkey to discuss with government officials what steps will be taken to express displeasure with the remarks.

Those options include the formal withdrawal of Turkey's top diplomat in Canada, a threat Turkey has made to Canada and other countries in the past.

"The ambassador is now travelling to Turkey because our authorities have asked him to join them for consultations and, indeed, it is related to what's been happening here in the last week or so here in Canada with the prime minister's declaration," said Yoney Tezel, a counsellor with the embassy.

The government's official position that 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a "genocide" adds Canada to a group of about 25 other countries, including France, Russia and Argentina.

"For us, this is a serious matter," Mr. Tezel said. "The Armenian claims are a direct attack on our identity, on Turkey's history. We feel it's unfair. That's why when these claims find some recognition we always consider that something negative."







Mr. Harper's statement, delivered on the 91st anniversary of the bloodbath, noted that both the Senate and the House of Commons have adopted motions acknowledging that a genocide took place.

"My party and I supported those resolutions and continue to recognize them today," he said.

On April 25, Turkey's Foreign Ministry issued a statement accusing Mr. Harper of exhibiting a "gravely prejudiced attitude."

"Such statements ... are not only counter-productive to the atmosphere of dialogue we wish to build between Turkey and Armenia, but also adversely affect the relations between Turkey and Canada," the Turkish government said.

After Mr. Harper's statement, a Turkish newspaper, Hurriyet, reported that Canadian companies would be barred from bidding on contracts related to the construction of a major nuclear power plant.....

According to official turkish policy, it seems that we Canadians are "gravely" prejudiced for distrusting the unbiased memories of the turkish government, foolishly relying on our own memories to formulate our opinions. We are being "gravely" offensive in choosing to use facts as our foundation for understanding the history of our world. If only we could follow the noble turkish model, of using hopeful wishes instead of the "gravely" western approach of accumulating and studying data..


Turkey is increasingly resembling that great western philosopher, Chico Marx, who once remarked to a distrusting Margaret Dumont,


"Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?"

[Gavur]

Turkey: Pullout From Nato Exercise

By CHRIS MASON (NYT)
Published: May 11, 2006
The Turkish government pulled out of a five-week NATO military exercise in Canada to protest a statement by Prime Minister Stephen Harper last month in which he called the killing of Armenians in World War I a genocide. The move followed Turkey's recall of its ambassador to Canada. Turkey has also recalled its ambassador to France to protest a bill before Parliament that would make denying the Armenian genocide a crime. Officials at the Turkish Embassy in Canada confirmed that a half-dozen Turkish jet fighters and other aircraft to be used in the NATO exercise had been withdrawn. The operation, to begin next week, will go on with about 40 aircraft and pilots from nine other countries, including the United States, Germany, France and Britain.

[Gavur]

Turkish PM Sends Letter to Harper

Josh Pringle
Thursday, May 11, 2006

http://www.cfra.com/headlines/index.asp?cat=2&nid=39053

The Turkish Prime Minister has reportedly sent a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The Globe and Mail reports Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked Harper not to recognize the Armenian genocide.

Instead, he is asking Canada to support an academic inquiry into the mass killings.

Harper became the first Canadian Prime Minister to declare that the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians during the First World War amounted to genocide.

[Joseph]

The Globe and Mail (Canada)
October 26, 2006 Thursday

SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. A20

It's no use papering over Turkey's past


The Canadian government has taken the contradictory position of recognizing the 1915 genocide of more than one million Armenians in Turkey and, as of this week, supporting Turkey's proposal for a fresh study of those events. It would be possible to square those two acts if there were any reason to believe that Turkey is ready to openly and honestly look at the historical truth. There isn't.

This is a country that persists in laying criminal charges for "insulting Turkishness" against writers who dare to question the official state denial that the genocide happened. Novelist Orhan Pamuk, who won this year's Nobel Prize for literature, was one of those charged. Turkey also persists in threatening to limit trade with countries that use the g-word. In May, after Prime Minister Stephen Harper explicitly recognized the genocide, Turkey recalled its ambassador and withdrew its jet fighters from NATO exercises at CFB Cold Lake in Alberta.

Turkey did do Canada the courtesy this summer of taking in thousands of its nationals who otherwise would have been stuck in a war zone in Lebanon. But surely Turkey does not expect that every time it does a favour for a North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally, the quid pro quo will be some form of symbolic support for the Turkish denial of its past.

As an act of realpolitik, this support for more "study" is far from Canada's first sop to the Turks. In 1996, when a Bloc Québécois MP put forward a motion to recognize the genocide, none other than the Liberal secretary of state for multiculturalism, Hedy Fry, amended the motion to say tragedy instead of genocide. When a Reform MP amended that amendment to say "the tragedy of genocide," the government voted to defeat the motion. Mr. Harper is not the first to bow to Turkish pressure, but his backtracking is at odds with the principled stand he prides himself on taking on international issues.

Twenty years ago, Benjamin Whitaker of Britain, a special rapporteur to the United Nations Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities, included the massacres of the Armenians on a list of 20th-century genocides. "At least one million, and possibly well over half of the Armenian population, are reliably estimated to have been killed or death-marched by independent authorities and eyewitnesses." Corroborating information, he said, was in reports in U.S., British and German archives and in those of contemporary diplomats in the Ottoman Empire; as he noted, Germany was Turkey's ally in the First World War. The Turkish position was that all evidence to the contrary was forged.

Some day Turkey will have to do what most of Europe has done and acknowledge its genocidal past.

[bell-the-cat]

"Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?"

Ummm, most politicians will "believe" what is most beneficial to them - so if that "me" has a strategic geopolitical position, or a big internal market, or an oil pipeline, or a few 100,000 voters then "me" evidence will be "believed" over "eye" evidence every time.