Human kill

　　●○　Letter from Doug the World Traveler　●○

The hate crimes of Germany and Japan in Nanking
during the WWII are known well to Straight Talk r
eaders but today is another important anniversary
of hate crime tragedies.
Those of the Armenians in Turkey in 1915.

I mention this because it illustrates that
"hate crimes" are not country specific but part of
human nature, and it is the responsibility of the
citizens of the world to understand and keep
this in check.
That's why it is so important to discuss and I thank
Straight Talk for being one way of focusing on this.
As Straight Talk mentions there are still elements of
hate in the Japan government today and other
regions in world wide, and we all need to work
keep in check.
Otherwise tyrants will again control societies.

Sadly, I doubt that any media group will mention
this in Japan.
Both the Canadian prime minister and US
presidents have mentioned this event in
history today, as well as Google News.

Doug


　　＝＝　CBC News (Apr 24, 2010)　＝＝

　　Armenian Canadians rally to remember killings

The rally on Parliament Hill Saturday was followed
by a march to Ottawa's Turkish Embassy. (CBC)

Hundreds of Armenian Canadians rallied in Ottawa
Saturday for Turkey to recognize the killing of
1.5 million Armenians nearly a century ago as a
genocide.

The mass killings by Ottoman Turks began in
1915 and continued for a decade.

"We are not able to forget that, so we're going to
repeat that each year," said Robert Kouyoumdjian,
executive director of the Armenian National
Committee of Canada, about the rally. Beginning
at noon on Parliament Hill, the rally lead into a
march to the Turkish Embassy.

Similar events will be held annually until Turkey
stops claiming that the deaths took place during
a civil conflict, Kouyoumdjian said.

"We didn't fight any war against Turkey.
We were part of Turkey," said Kouyoumdijian,
whose grandfather fought in the Turkish army.
He added that Turkey had created its own
version of history —
"To make [us] forget the truth and anything else."

Turkey has long said the estimated death toll of
1.5 million people around the time of the First
World War is an inflated figure. It also maintains
that those killed were victims of civil war and
unrest, not genocide.

Canada recognized genocide in 2004
Nevertheless, Canada's House of Commons voted in
2004 to recognize the killings as genocide.
The U.S. foreign affairs committee endorsed a similar
resolution this past March, even though the Obama
administration had urged Congress not to offend
Turkey by approving it.Robert Kouyoumdjian, executive director of the
Armenian National Committee of Canada, said similar events to Saturday's rally will be held annually until
Turkey recognizes the killings as a genocide.
(CBC)

Ottawa police had expected about 1,000
people to turn out for Saturday's rally.
Speakers included Ottawa-Orleans MP Royal
Galipeau and Scarborough-Agincourt MP Jim
Karygiannis, who brought forward the 2004 private
member's bill leading to Canada's recognition of the
genocide.

The crowd sang and chanted while waving the red,
blue and orange Armenian flag.

Demonstrators placed flowers around the Eternal
Flame before marching to the Turkish Embassy.

Some of the demonstrators said Armenians today
are still strongly affected by the deaths and by
Turkey's refusal to recognize them as a genocide.

"We need to fight," said Cécile Kozadjian, who
described herself as a member of the fourth
Armenian generation after the war.
"We need to say that it really did happen and they
shouldn't be in denial 'cause it's the truth."

"We need to remember," agreed Raffi Sarkissian.
"That's the only way we can end the cycle of
genocide and prevent future cases of genocide
anywhere else."

　　＝＝　Straight Talk　＝＝

In 1915, a village in Turkey disappeared as if it
had never existed.
See " Ararat " the film by Atom Egoyan whose
background is in Armenia as well as
Charles Aznavour the legendary chanson singer
and the main actor in the movie who participated
in the movie as it is his " responsibility ".
This film is like " Schindler's List " for Spielberg.

1915年、トルコでのアルメニア人虐殺は150万人の犠牲者を
出した。
日本政府ほどに悪くはないがトルコ政府もそれを認めない。
映画 『 アララトの聖母 』 を観てみよう。
7年ほど前、この映画の監督アトム・エゴヤンに会った。
1960年生まれの彼は、とてもまっすぐな人だった。
Politicians don't fix problems.
Movies, music, books and so on do as they
touch your heart.
Then, people make the change.政治家は、歴史や社会を正さない。
音楽、映画、本とかが正す。
人の心に触れ、人が動く。

PS. I was very lucky to have met the director
Atom Egoyan about 7 years ago.
He is from Victoria, Canada.