Tweet
Agence France Presse
September 21, 2012 Friday 1:33 AM GMT
Canada, Turkey unveil monument to fallen diplomats
OTTAWA, Sept 20 2012
Canada and Turkey's foreign ministers unveiled a monument to fallen
diplomats Thursday, a week after US ambassador Chris Stevens was
killed in Libya.
The monument in Ottawa stands on the very spot where a Turkish
diplomat was assassinated on his way to work 30 years ago, allegedly
by Armenian gunmen.
The still unsolved murder of colonel Atilla Altikat, a former military
attache at the Turkish embassy, was one of more than a dozen killings
of Turkish diplomats between 1977 and 1986 carried out in capitals
around the world.
"Sadly, both Turkey and Canada have lost talented and distinguished
diplomats through senseless acts of violence directed at our
countries," Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said in a
statement.
"Recent events prove, tragically, that the dangers facing diplomats
and public servants in foreign postings are still an unfortunate
reality," he added in a nod to Stevens.
The metal and wood monument in the form of a cone, designed and built
by a Turkish team led by sculptor Azimet Karaman, is intended also to
restore good relations between Canada and Turkey after a row erupted
in 2006 over Ottawa's recognition of what it terms the Armenian
genocide a century ago.
Armenia and Turkey are at odds over whether the massacres and
deportations of Armenians between 1915 and 1917 by their Ottoman
rulers should be described as genocide, as recognized also by France
and the European Parliament.
Armenia says the massacres and deportations left more than 1.5 million
of its people dead, while Turkey puts the number up to 500,000 between
1915 and 1917, according to the Turkish Historical Society.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is the first Turkish
minister since 1998 to visit Canada, for the unveiling.
He commented that "history and politics don't mix," while affirming
Turkey's willingness to review the World War I events with a view
toward reconciliation, while at the same time denouncing the
"politicizing of historical events."
Davutoglu also thanked Baird for his offer of Canadian aid for more
than 100,000 Syrian refugees now in Turkey.
He called for a "psychological and cultural" change in the West to
bring an end to what Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan this
week described as "Islamophobia."
Erdogan was reacting to the US-produced low-budget Internet video
titled "Innocence of Muslims" that has sparked protests around the
world.
Stevens and three other Americans were killed amid demonstrations in a
four-hour attack on September 11 on the US consulate in the eastern
Libyan city of Benghazi.
September 21, 2012 Friday 1:33 AM GMT
Canada, Turkey unveil monument to fallen diplomats
OTTAWA, Sept 20 2012
Canada and Turkey's foreign ministers unveiled a monument to fallen
diplomats Thursday, a week after US ambassador Chris Stevens was
killed in Libya.
The monument in Ottawa stands on the very spot where a Turkish
diplomat was assassinated on his way to work 30 years ago, allegedly
by Armenian gunmen.
The still unsolved murder of colonel Atilla Altikat, a former military
attache at the Turkish embassy, was one of more than a dozen killings
of Turkish diplomats between 1977 and 1986 carried out in capitals
around the world.
"Sadly, both Turkey and Canada have lost talented and distinguished
diplomats through senseless acts of violence directed at our
countries," Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said in a
statement.
"Recent events prove, tragically, that the dangers facing diplomats
and public servants in foreign postings are still an unfortunate
reality," he added in a nod to Stevens.
The metal and wood monument in the form of a cone, designed and built
by a Turkish team led by sculptor Azimet Karaman, is intended also to
restore good relations between Canada and Turkey after a row erupted
in 2006 over Ottawa's recognition of what it terms the Armenian
genocide a century ago.
Armenia and Turkey are at odds over whether the massacres and
deportations of Armenians between 1915 and 1917 by their Ottoman
rulers should be described as genocide, as recognized also by France
and the European Parliament.
Armenia says the massacres and deportations left more than 1.5 million
of its people dead, while Turkey puts the number up to 500,000 between
1915 and 1917, according to the Turkish Historical Society.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is the first Turkish
minister since 1998 to visit Canada, for the unveiling.
He commented that "history and politics don't mix," while affirming
Turkey's willingness to review the World War I events with a view
toward reconciliation, while at the same time denouncing the
"politicizing of historical events."
Davutoglu also thanked Baird for his offer of Canadian aid for more
than 100,000 Syrian refugees now in Turkey.
He called for a "psychological and cultural" change in the West to
bring an end to what Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan this
week described as "Islamophobia."
Erdogan was reacting to the US-produced low-budget Internet video
titled "Innocence of Muslims" that has sparked protests around the
world.
Stevens and three other Americans were killed amid demonstrations in a
four-hour attack on September 11 on the US consulate in the eastern
Libyan city of Benghazi.