Mass killings remembered
Thousands at rally on Hill to mark 100 years since Armenian deaths
Thousands of people rallied on Parliament Hill on Friday to mark the centennial of what many call the Armenian genocide.
The noon-hour rally was meant to commemorate the killing of as many as 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks during the First World War. The killings have been recognized as a genocide by more than 20 countries, including Canada, as well as by Pope Francis. Turkey, however, rejects the term.
Banging drums and waving flags, Armenian supporters gathered on the east lawn of Parliament Hill, while a vocal but much smaller pro-Turkish group gathered on the west lawn, as a heavy police presence looked on.
RCMP officers on the scene were expecting between 5,000 and 6,000 people at the Armenian rally, with attendance at the Turkish rally estimated around 1,000. Armenian organizers estimated attendance for their own event at 8,000.
Many Canadian members of Parliament spoke to the Armenian crowd, including Defence Minister Jason Kenney, Green Party leader Elizabeth May, Liberal MP Irwin Cotler and Brad Butt of the Conservative party. A prepared statement was also read on behalf of NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, who did not attend.
“We are here today as proud Canadians because we believe in memory,” said Kenney. “Canada believes in memory.”
Kenney did not mention the Turks, nor did he visit the Turkish Canadians gathered on the other side of the lawn as he spoke, many of them brandishing signs that denounced the use of the term “genocide.”
Many of the rally’s speakers emphasized remembrance as key to preventing history from repeating itself.
The House of Commons also passed Motion 587 on Friday, which was put forward by Butt. It establishes April as Genocide Remembrance, Condemnation and Prevention month in Canada.
The rally was followed by a march down Rideau Street to the Turkish embassy.
On April 24, 1915, troops of the Turkish Ottoman Empire began rounding up Armenians. Many were executed outright, and hundreds of thousands more died of starvation or through forced labour or death marches.
Earlier this month, Turkey recalled its ambassadors to Vienna and the Vatican after Austria and Pope Francis described the killings as genocide. The European Parliament has also triggered Turkey’s ire by passing a non-binding resolution to commemorate “the centenary of the Armenian genocide.”
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu this week issued a message of condolence to the descendants of the victims, without calling the killings genocide.