Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to take this time to thank all hon. members of parliament. Since I have been here they have expressed their support and appreciation of the Canadian Armenian community when it has spoken of the genocide of the Armenians in 1915.
On January 19 this year in Toronto and on April 10 in Montreal I had meetings with many representatives of the Canadian Armenian community. They endorsed unanimously the position taken by me and some members of the House that the government must recognize the events of 1915 as a genocide and not as a tragedy.
On that score I express my appreciation to the Minister of Foreign Affairs for answering my question on April 18 and mentioning that the House designated April 20 to 27, 1996 and every year thereafter as the week of crimes against humanity or people's suffering. In 1999 the then Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs expressed very strongly the position taken by the government.
I am an optimist by nature. I think at this stage the cup is three-quarters full. I say that because before I arrived here three years ago governments used to characterize the events of 1915 as a tragedy. A few years later we took courage and said it was a calamity.
As I mentioned, in 1999 the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that what happened in 1915 was done out of pure intent to destroy a national minority. Pure intent to destroy a national minority is the same definition used in the crimes against humanity bill passed by the House. It is the same phrase used by the UN to describe events in Rwanda, Yugoslavia or anywhere in the world that constitute genocide.
The exception is when it comes to the case of Armenia. People in the world have come up with different phrases but they all avoid the word genocide. People have told me they have grave concerns about using the word. However France used it a couple of years ago and nothing happened. France is still there. Turkey is still there. They still do trade. They still have commerce. They still have relationships between them. Why can it not be the same for Canada?
I will make another point clear. The Turks have been claiming for the last few years that Armenians were murderers who massacred a whole bunch of Turks. I have articles from number of newspapers including the New York Times , The Times of London, the Evening Telegram , the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail . A New York Times headline dated Sunday, December 12, 1915 reads “Woman Describes Armenian Killings: German missionary says Turks proclaimed extermination as their aim”. This came from a German person. As we know, the Germans and Turks were allies during World War I. Another New York Times headline dated Wednesday, December 15, 1915 reads “Million Armenians Killed Or In Exile”. This again came from a German source.
Armenians did not kill Turks. I am sure these newspapers have a whole bunch of articles and there will not be one that says the Armenians killed some Turks. I would like to see the proof because the proof is not there. People want us to go further to look forward to this event--