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US OTTOMAN PARADE CANCELED DUE TO ARMENIAN PRESSURE
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Sept 30 2011
A parade of the Ottoman military marching band (Mehter Takımı)
at a Turkish fetsival in Chicago in 2009. (Photo: Cihan)
A parade of the Ottoman military marching band (Mehter Takımı),
originally scheduled to take place on Monday in Hollywood, has been
cancelled by organizers due to pressure from US Armenian groups,
who found the event "offensive" for the victims of the World War
I-era killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks.
Quoting remarks from an official at the Los Angeles Police Commission,
the Los Angeles-based English-language Armenian newspaper Asbarez
said the permit for the parade, scheduled for Oct. 3 on Hollywood
Boulevard between Highland and La Brea avenues, was pulled Wednesday.
Hafsa Rai, a spokeswoman for the Pacifica Institute, which organized
the event, told the Los Angeles Times that the uproar took the
organization by surprise and that its mission is to promote
intercultural dialogue.
"We are not here to offend anyone. That was never our intention,"
she said.
The march was meant to generate interest in the Anatolian Cultures
Festival in Costa Mesa starting Oct. 6, which celebrates all cultures
that have at one time lived in what is now Turkey, including Armenians,
Rai said.
Since its announcement, the planned parade drew strong reaction from
Armenian groups, including the Armenian Youth Federation and Armenian
National Committee, which called the march "tantamount to hate speech
and harassment." The federation had planned to protest the parade,
organized via a Facebook page where the reaction among users was a
mix of surprise and outrage.
In an announcement issued earlier this week, the influential US-based
Armenian diaspora organization the Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA) also protested the event, saying "the nature and
planned performance of the band are not only insulting but wholly
unacceptable to the Armenian American community."
Asbarez said on Thursday that the Armenian Youth Federation welcomed
the cancellation of the event, and their planned protest was cancelled.
Armenian groups say up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed during
World War I in a systematic genocide campaign perpetrated by the
Ottoman Empire. Turkey categorically rejects the charges, saying the
death toll is inflated and that Turks were also killed as Armenians
revolted against the Ottoman Empire in collaboration with Russian
forces for an independent state in eastern Anatolia.
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Sept 30 2011
A parade of the Ottoman military marching band (Mehter Takımı)
at a Turkish fetsival in Chicago in 2009. (Photo: Cihan)
A parade of the Ottoman military marching band (Mehter Takımı),
originally scheduled to take place on Monday in Hollywood, has been
cancelled by organizers due to pressure from US Armenian groups,
who found the event "offensive" for the victims of the World War
I-era killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks.
Quoting remarks from an official at the Los Angeles Police Commission,
the Los Angeles-based English-language Armenian newspaper Asbarez
said the permit for the parade, scheduled for Oct. 3 on Hollywood
Boulevard between Highland and La Brea avenues, was pulled Wednesday.
Hafsa Rai, a spokeswoman for the Pacifica Institute, which organized
the event, told the Los Angeles Times that the uproar took the
organization by surprise and that its mission is to promote
intercultural dialogue.
"We are not here to offend anyone. That was never our intention,"
she said.
The march was meant to generate interest in the Anatolian Cultures
Festival in Costa Mesa starting Oct. 6, which celebrates all cultures
that have at one time lived in what is now Turkey, including Armenians,
Rai said.
Since its announcement, the planned parade drew strong reaction from
Armenian groups, including the Armenian Youth Federation and Armenian
National Committee, which called the march "tantamount to hate speech
and harassment." The federation had planned to protest the parade,
organized via a Facebook page where the reaction among users was a
mix of surprise and outrage.
In an announcement issued earlier this week, the influential US-based
Armenian diaspora organization the Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA) also protested the event, saying "the nature and
planned performance of the band are not only insulting but wholly
unacceptable to the Armenian American community."
Asbarez said on Thursday that the Armenian Youth Federation welcomed
the cancellation of the event, and their planned protest was cancelled.
Armenian groups say up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed during
World War I in a systematic genocide campaign perpetrated by the
Ottoman Empire. Turkey categorically rejects the charges, saying the
death toll is inflated and that Turks were also killed as Armenians
revolted against the Ottoman Empire in collaboration with Russian
forces for an independent state in eastern Anatolia.