Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Some of this testimony really shocks me.
Mr. Knutson, you sort of implied that nobody could have anticipated a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in which the Turkish government would support the Azeri side. Where have you been for the last 10 years?
The question I want to ask you is about your comment that your members support Canadian values while, at the same time, you've acted as a registered lobbyist for the Turkish government. That is something that I don't think you disclosed in your opening statement. When you were a member of Parliament, you were one of a small number of MPs to vote against recognizing the Armenian genocide. You gave a speech at the time in which you repeatedly referred to it as a calamity, as if it were a natural disaster. Subsequent to leaving politics, you were hired by a third party group to lobby against genocide recognition—that is, to lobby for the reversal of Canada's recognition of the Armenian genocide.
It is clear to me that the Turkish state sees denial of the Armenian genocide as consistent with its interests, but how is genocide denial consistent with human rights and Canadian values? Have you revisited your position on the Armenian genocide? Shouldn't the continuing denial by the Turkish state of past genocide create legitimate fear that the state won't appropriately respond to human rights violations in the present?