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RAFFI HOVHANNISIAN AT CANADIAN PARLIAMENT
AZG DAILY #207, 11-11-2010
Armenia's first minister of foreign affairs and current chairman of
the Heritage Party, was on Parliament Hill to address the Ottawa
Conference on Combating Antisemitism. Convened by the Government of
Canada and the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Combating
Antisemitism between November 7 and 9, the international conclave
brought together political leaders, scholars, human rights advocates,
diplomats and members of parliament from around the world.
Delivering his keynote address to a plenary session on "The Role of
Governments and Parliaments in Combating Antisemitism," Raffi
Hovannisian underscored the universal connections among all forms of
racism, genocide and its denial--from the Holocaust and the scourge of
antisemitism to the still-unrequited Armenian Genocide and xenophobia
aimed at Armenians and many minority groups across the globe. The
lessons to be drawn from the tragedies of history and applied to
prevent their recurrence are, he said, that reconciliation with past
and present perpetrators can be achieved solely on the basis of
accepting and accounting for the terrible truth, and that taking
courageous public stands in the political arena, at schools and on
campuses, and throughout societies must not be selective or exclusive
but rather must target equally all crimes against humanity and all
instances of hate speech. Only in this way will the civilized world
have a chance to reach the rule not only of law, but also of rights
and ethics.
Raffi Hovannisian, who dedicated his speech to the memory of his
grandparents who had survived the Genocide and Great Armenian
Dispossession nearly a century ago, was provided a further opportunity
to expand on the Armenian experience when a Turkish parliamentarian,
accompanied by a Turkish Embassy official, attempted to respond to the
keynote presentation by reading from an Embassy position paper that
relativized and trivialized the Genocide. In a dramatic exchange,
Hovannisian concluded the session by saying that it boggles the human
mind and borders on surrealism that an international meeting on
antisemitism should be bearing direct witness to the specter of active
denialism; that his grandmother owed her life to a righteous Turkish
family whose story has not been told because of the official Turkish
position; that Turkey must follow postwar Germany's example in facing
history and taking responsibility for its crimes against humanity; and
that hope springs eternal that we will live to see the day when
distinguished Turkish delegates present themselves to condemn, not
deny all forms of racism including genocide and its denial, slaq.am
reports.
From: A. Papazian
AZG DAILY #207, 11-11-2010
Armenia's first minister of foreign affairs and current chairman of
the Heritage Party, was on Parliament Hill to address the Ottawa
Conference on Combating Antisemitism. Convened by the Government of
Canada and the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Combating
Antisemitism between November 7 and 9, the international conclave
brought together political leaders, scholars, human rights advocates,
diplomats and members of parliament from around the world.
Delivering his keynote address to a plenary session on "The Role of
Governments and Parliaments in Combating Antisemitism," Raffi
Hovannisian underscored the universal connections among all forms of
racism, genocide and its denial--from the Holocaust and the scourge of
antisemitism to the still-unrequited Armenian Genocide and xenophobia
aimed at Armenians and many minority groups across the globe. The
lessons to be drawn from the tragedies of history and applied to
prevent their recurrence are, he said, that reconciliation with past
and present perpetrators can be achieved solely on the basis of
accepting and accounting for the terrible truth, and that taking
courageous public stands in the political arena, at schools and on
campuses, and throughout societies must not be selective or exclusive
but rather must target equally all crimes against humanity and all
instances of hate speech. Only in this way will the civilized world
have a chance to reach the rule not only of law, but also of rights
and ethics.
Raffi Hovannisian, who dedicated his speech to the memory of his
grandparents who had survived the Genocide and Great Armenian
Dispossession nearly a century ago, was provided a further opportunity
to expand on the Armenian experience when a Turkish parliamentarian,
accompanied by a Turkish Embassy official, attempted to respond to the
keynote presentation by reading from an Embassy position paper that
relativized and trivialized the Genocide. In a dramatic exchange,
Hovannisian concluded the session by saying that it boggles the human
mind and borders on surrealism that an international meeting on
antisemitism should be bearing direct witness to the specter of active
denialism; that his grandmother owed her life to a righteous Turkish
family whose story has not been told because of the official Turkish
position; that Turkey must follow postwar Germany's example in facing
history and taking responsibility for its crimes against humanity; and
that hope springs eternal that we will live to see the day when
distinguished Turkish delegates present themselves to condemn, not
deny all forms of racism including genocide and its denial, slaq.am
reports.
From: A. Papazian