Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Lebanon Armenians Angry Over Planned Turkey Deal

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Lebanon Armenians Angry Over Planned Turkey Deal

    LEBANON ARMENIANS ANGRY OVER PLANNED TURKEY DEAL

    http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_w orld/view/1009653/1/.html
    06 October 2009 2057 hrs

    BEIRUT : Armenia's President Serzh Sarkisian was to face a largely
    hostile reception later on Tuesday from members of Lebanon's Armenian
    community up in arms over Yerevan's plans to establish ties with
    Ankara.

    Sarkisian's brief stop in Beirut is part of a week-long international
    trip aimed at calming concerns among members of the Armenian diaspora
    over Turkish-Armenian efforts to normalise relations.

    But such plans have angered many in Lebanon's 140,000-strong Armenian
    community, mostly made up of the descendants of survivors of massacres
    in eastern Anatolia under Ottoman rule almost a century ago.

    "After nearly 100 years of fighting for our cause, how can our enemy
    become our friend in the blink of an eye?" said a visibly angry
    Koko Marashlian, a store owner in Beirut's Armenian neighbourhood of
    Burj Hammud.

    Hagop Pakradounian, one of six Armenian deputies in Lebanon's
    parliament, said the community was all for improved ties between
    Armenia and Turkey but not at any price.

    "This issue concerns Armenians worldwide and not just those in
    Armenia," Pakradounian told AFP.

    "We are not talking about a simple economic accord between two
    countries but a historic one that concerns each Armenian family,
    whatever its nationality," he said.

    Community members have drawn up a petition condemning the agreements
    set to be signed later this month between Turkey and Armenia on
    establishing diplomatic ties.

    Stores in Burj Hammud were to shut down on Tuesday afternoon in
    protest, while a demonstration was also planned.

    "We remember, we demand, we refuse," read placards put up throughout
    the neighbourhood, where Armenian patriotic music blared.

    "These agreements will sound the death knell of our cause," store-owner
    Marashlian said. "As descendants of those exiled, we are the main
    victims of these agreements."

    Keborg Abajian, 55, who runs a coffeeshop, said he was ready to take
    up arms to prevent the normalisation of ties.

    "I will shut down my shop to go fight so that our martyrs are not
    forgotten," he said. "We want to recover our land. My ancestors owned
    huge plots of land in Urfa," in southeast Turkey.

    Some members of the younger generation, however, appeared to adopt
    a more conciliatory tone, saying it was time to move on.

    "The state of Armenia has made a decision and who am I to decide what
    is best for its people?" said Haig Asmarian, 34, a jeweller. "My
    grandfather still has the titles to his property but it's time to
    turn the page.

    "And who knows, maybe this will benefit Armenia economically."

    Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were systematically
    killed between 1915 and 1917 as the Ottoman Empire was falling apart.

    Turkey rejects the genocide label and argues that 300,000-500,000
    Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when
    Armenians took up arms against their Ottoman rulers and sided with
    invading Russian troops.
Working...
X