Tweet
OBJECTIONS LEAD U.N. TO DELAY GENOCIDE EXHIBIT
By Warren Hoge
New York Times, NY
April 10 2007
UNITED NATIONS, April 9 - The United Nations dismantled an exhibit on
the Rwandan genocide and postponed its scheduled opening by Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon on Monday after the Turkish mission objected to
references to the Armenian genocide in Turkey at the time of World
War I.
The panels of graphics, photos and statements had been installed in
the visitors lobby on Thursday by the British-based Aegis Trust. The
trust campaigns for the prevention of genocide and runs a center in
Kigali, the Rwandan capital, memorializing the 500,000 victims of
the massacres there 13 years ago.
Hours after the show was assembled, however, a Turkish diplomat
spotted offending words in a section entitled "What is genocide?" and
raised objections.
The passage said that "following World War I, during which one million
Armenians were murdered in Turkey," Raphael Lemkin, a Polish lawyer
credited with coining the word genocide, "urged the League of Nations
to recognize crimes of barbarity as international crimes."
James Smith, the chief executive of Aegis, said he was told by the
United Nations on Saturday night that the sentence would have to be
eliminated or the exhibition would be struck.
Armen Martirosyan, the Armenian ambassador, said he sought out
Kiyotaka Akasaka, the United Nations under secretary general for
public information, and thought he had reached an agreement to let
the show go forward by omitting the words "in Turkey."
But Mr. Akasaka said, "That was his suggestion, and I agreed only to
take it into account in finding the final wording."
Baki Ilkin, the ambassador of Turkey, said, "We just expressed our
discomfort over the text's making references to the Armenian issue
and drawing parallels with the genocide in Rwanda."
There were widespread killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during
several years beginning in 1915 in which an estimated 1.5 million died,
but Turkey has always vehemently denied claims of genocide.
Mr. Smith said he was "very disappointed because this was supposed
to talk about the lessons drawn from Rwanda and point up that what
is happening in Darfur is the cost of inaction."
By Warren Hoge
New York Times, NY
April 10 2007
UNITED NATIONS, April 9 - The United Nations dismantled an exhibit on
the Rwandan genocide and postponed its scheduled opening by Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon on Monday after the Turkish mission objected to
references to the Armenian genocide in Turkey at the time of World
War I.
The panels of graphics, photos and statements had been installed in
the visitors lobby on Thursday by the British-based Aegis Trust. The
trust campaigns for the prevention of genocide and runs a center in
Kigali, the Rwandan capital, memorializing the 500,000 victims of
the massacres there 13 years ago.
Hours after the show was assembled, however, a Turkish diplomat
spotted offending words in a section entitled "What is genocide?" and
raised objections.
The passage said that "following World War I, during which one million
Armenians were murdered in Turkey," Raphael Lemkin, a Polish lawyer
credited with coining the word genocide, "urged the League of Nations
to recognize crimes of barbarity as international crimes."
James Smith, the chief executive of Aegis, said he was told by the
United Nations on Saturday night that the sentence would have to be
eliminated or the exhibition would be struck.
Armen Martirosyan, the Armenian ambassador, said he sought out
Kiyotaka Akasaka, the United Nations under secretary general for
public information, and thought he had reached an agreement to let
the show go forward by omitting the words "in Turkey."
But Mr. Akasaka said, "That was his suggestion, and I agreed only to
take it into account in finding the final wording."
Baki Ilkin, the ambassador of Turkey, said, "We just expressed our
discomfort over the text's making references to the Armenian issue
and drawing parallels with the genocide in Rwanda."
There were widespread killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during
several years beginning in 1915 in which an estimated 1.5 million died,
but Turkey has always vehemently denied claims of genocide.
Mr. Smith said he was "very disappointed because this was supposed
to talk about the lessons drawn from Rwanda and point up that what
is happening in Darfur is the cost of inaction."