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ARMENIAN-LEBANESE PROTEST OUTSIDE TURKISH EMBASSY
By Van Meguerditchian
The Daily Star
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Apr-24/171232-armenian-lebanese-protest-outside-turkish-embassy.ashx#axzz1szMVGWJD
April 24 2012
Lebanon
BEIRUT: Thousands of Armenian-Lebanese gathered outside the Turkish
Embassy in Rabieh, Metn, burning Turkish flags and calling on Ankara
to recognize the genocide of 1915-1916.
Officials at the Interior Ministry estimated that between 20,000
and 25,000 people took part in the rally, which began following a
rememberance Mass at the Armenian Orthodox Catholicosate in Antelias,
Metn, and proceeded to the Turkish Embassy in nearby Rabiyeh to mark
the 97th anniversary of the genocide.
The huge protest prompted the Turkish Embassy to request a change of
security arrangements in the vicinity of the mission.
Angry crowds were separated from the embassy by two rows of barbed
wire fences and hundreds of riot police. No incidents occured during
the two and a half hour rally which ended at 2:30 p.m.
They chanted anti-Turkish slogans and set at least six Turkish flags
on fire.
Organizers managed to keep the situation under control and called
for restraint.
Traffic from Antelias to Rabiyeh came to a standstill as a result
of the protest, which saw the participation of the country's main
Armenian-Lebanese political parties: the Tashnag, Henchag and Ramgavar.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their forebears were killed by
the Ottoman Empire during World War I in what amounted to a genocide.
Turkey disputes the figure, arguing that up to 500,000 Armenians died
during a war which claimed many victims, and that the Armenians were
not the victims of genocide.
Meanwhile, the head of the Central Maronite Council, former Minister
Wadih Khazen, issued a statement commemorating the Armenian victims
of the genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, comparing their
suffering to that which Lebanon has endured in its historical quest
for freedom.
By Van Meguerditchian
The Daily Star
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Apr-24/171232-armenian-lebanese-protest-outside-turkish-embassy.ashx#axzz1szMVGWJD
April 24 2012
Lebanon
BEIRUT: Thousands of Armenian-Lebanese gathered outside the Turkish
Embassy in Rabieh, Metn, burning Turkish flags and calling on Ankara
to recognize the genocide of 1915-1916.
Officials at the Interior Ministry estimated that between 20,000
and 25,000 people took part in the rally, which began following a
rememberance Mass at the Armenian Orthodox Catholicosate in Antelias,
Metn, and proceeded to the Turkish Embassy in nearby Rabiyeh to mark
the 97th anniversary of the genocide.
The huge protest prompted the Turkish Embassy to request a change of
security arrangements in the vicinity of the mission.
Angry crowds were separated from the embassy by two rows of barbed
wire fences and hundreds of riot police. No incidents occured during
the two and a half hour rally which ended at 2:30 p.m.
They chanted anti-Turkish slogans and set at least six Turkish flags
on fire.
Organizers managed to keep the situation under control and called
for restraint.
Traffic from Antelias to Rabiyeh came to a standstill as a result
of the protest, which saw the participation of the country's main
Armenian-Lebanese political parties: the Tashnag, Henchag and Ramgavar.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their forebears were killed by
the Ottoman Empire during World War I in what amounted to a genocide.
Turkey disputes the figure, arguing that up to 500,000 Armenians died
during a war which claimed many victims, and that the Armenians were
not the victims of genocide.
Meanwhile, the head of the Central Maronite Council, former Minister
Wadih Khazen, issued a statement commemorating the Armenian victims
of the genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, comparing their
suffering to that which Lebanon has endured in its historical quest
for freedom.