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'ARMENIAN GENOCIDE' PROTESTERS TARGET CHEVRON
Orlando Sentinel
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local /orl-armenians-protest-chevron-072209,0,7687508.st ory
July 22 2009
FL
WINTER PARK - Six young men stood in the midday sun outside a Chevron
gas station in Winter Park protesting against what they see as a
wrong of history.
They were responding to a call by the Armenian Youth Federation
for U.S. Congress to pass a resolution recognizing "the Armenian
Genocide," over the killing of more than 1 million Armenians in the
early part of the last century in the territory that is now Turkey,
a U.S. Middle East ally.
They stood at the corner of Lee Road and Wymore Road in Winter Park,
holding signs with messages such as: "Pumping your dollars into
genocide denial" and "Fueling genocide denial."
Many drivers just passed them by and went straight to the pumps.
Armenian activists are reacting to a recent news report from the
Associated Press that Chevron Corp. is among multinational corporations
lobbying against a pending U.S. House of Representatives resolution,
which would call on President Barack Obama "to accurately characterize
the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians
as genocide."
BAE Systems, Inc., Goodrich Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp., Raytheon
Co., and United Technologies Corp. were also named in the AP news
report as companies with strong ties to Turkey that are against the
U.S. labeling the slaughter a genocide.
The company responded saying that it supports stability in the
Middle East.
"As a major energy producer in the region, we support the integrity of
multiple energy transportation routes and a diplomatic relationship
between Turkey and Armenia. Stability along these transportation
corridors is essential to the delivery of strategic resources to global
markets," company spokesman Justin Higgs said in a statement. The
genocide resolution, he added, "would have hurt, not helped, relations
between Turkey and Armenia."
But to protesters the resolution is a matter of historic justice.
"It's contradictory of Chevron to have their motto 'The Chevron way'
and say that they are responsible and ethical when they are lobbying
against a human rights situation," said Raffi Mekhdjavakian, an Oviedo
resident with the Armenian youth group. "If [the genocide] is denied
it's as if it never happened. Honestly, we just want recognition."
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates there are about 12,600 Armenians in
Florida; 1,400 of those are estimated to live in Metro Orlando.
Orlando Sentinel
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local /orl-armenians-protest-chevron-072209,0,7687508.st ory
July 22 2009
FL
WINTER PARK - Six young men stood in the midday sun outside a Chevron
gas station in Winter Park protesting against what they see as a
wrong of history.
They were responding to a call by the Armenian Youth Federation
for U.S. Congress to pass a resolution recognizing "the Armenian
Genocide," over the killing of more than 1 million Armenians in the
early part of the last century in the territory that is now Turkey,
a U.S. Middle East ally.
They stood at the corner of Lee Road and Wymore Road in Winter Park,
holding signs with messages such as: "Pumping your dollars into
genocide denial" and "Fueling genocide denial."
Many drivers just passed them by and went straight to the pumps.
Armenian activists are reacting to a recent news report from the
Associated Press that Chevron Corp. is among multinational corporations
lobbying against a pending U.S. House of Representatives resolution,
which would call on President Barack Obama "to accurately characterize
the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians
as genocide."
BAE Systems, Inc., Goodrich Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp., Raytheon
Co., and United Technologies Corp. were also named in the AP news
report as companies with strong ties to Turkey that are against the
U.S. labeling the slaughter a genocide.
The company responded saying that it supports stability in the
Middle East.
"As a major energy producer in the region, we support the integrity of
multiple energy transportation routes and a diplomatic relationship
between Turkey and Armenia. Stability along these transportation
corridors is essential to the delivery of strategic resources to global
markets," company spokesman Justin Higgs said in a statement. The
genocide resolution, he added, "would have hurt, not helped, relations
between Turkey and Armenia."
But to protesters the resolution is a matter of historic justice.
"It's contradictory of Chevron to have their motto 'The Chevron way'
and say that they are responsible and ethical when they are lobbying
against a human rights situation," said Raffi Mekhdjavakian, an Oviedo
resident with the Armenian youth group. "If [the genocide] is denied
it's as if it never happened. Honestly, we just want recognition."
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates there are about 12,600 Armenians in
Florida; 1,400 of those are estimated to live in Metro Orlando.