Sarkis Assadourian

[International Aid, June 10th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister for International Cooperation. Last week the tragic collapse of the Zeyzoun dam in northern Syria resulted in numerous deaths and the evacuation of thousands of people from several flooded villages in the area. Will the minister indicate what action the Canadian government has taken in response to this calamity?

[Middle East, May 30th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

During his recent trip to the Middle East the minister had the opportunity to meet with the leadership of both sides involved in the ongoing conflict. Can the minister share with the House his observations on the current situation and outline the position of the government in regard to assisting in the creation of a lasting and durable peace in the region?

[Mountain Pine Beetle, April 30th, 2002]

Madam Speaker, I want to make two points in the one minute I have left.

First, I want to make sure that everyone watching tonight knows they can come to my office to look at this documentation which proves the point of what exactly happened. This is not a document of Armenian sources. It is from a respected international newspaper.

Second, if Armenians in Canada, around the world or in Armenia are asked to move forward then we must have the courage to address the past because without addressing the wounds of the past, Armenians cannot go forward. That is a must.

If relations between Turkey and Armenia are to go forward this issue must be addressed once and for all so these two nations can live in peace and harmony, with trade, with government diplomatic relations and with normal relations between two nations because they have both survived and are both here to live in peace and harmony.

I thank everybody for their support and encouragement on this issue. I look forward to the co-operation of everybody in the House to fill the one-quarter left in the cup so we can have the word genocide used.

[Mountain Pine Beetle, April 30th, 2002]

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--

[Vaisakhi, April 24th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to join with Sikhs in Canada and throughout the world in marking the 303rd anniversary of Khalsa.

This past weekend I joined with over 25,000 Canadian Sikhs in a wonderful celebration of faith and pride in their culture. From its origins in the Indus Valley the Sikh faith has spread throughout the world, including Canada, where the first pioneers settled over 100 years ago.

Today Sikhs are represented in every occupation and facet of Canadian life, including being elected as members of the House of Commons, provincial parliaments and municipal governments.

I wish to congratulate the Canadian Sikh community on the 303rd anniversary of Khalsa and those in my own riding of Brampton Centre.

[Supply, April 23rd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, this is an important issue. There is heated debate on both sides of the House.

I remind the hon. member that on April 16 we had a meeting on this important issue. It was attended by 38 members of parliament from all parties except the Bloc Quebecois. It was agreed that the issue was to be headed by my hon. colleague from Pickering--Ajax--Uxbridge. The Alliance Party did agree to follow the procedure. It would not make this a political issue.

What happened between April 16 and now? The Alliance Party has decided to bring back the issue and bypass the agreement it had with all the members of parliament. Could my hon. colleague answer that question?

[Armenia, April 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, in an article in The Globe and Mail on April 18, the Turkish government has threatened legal action against the producers of world renowned Canadian film director Atom Egoyan's film Ararat if the film asserts that Turkey was guilty of genocide against the Armenians that commenced on April 24, 1915.

The House has dedicated the week of April 20 to April 27 of each year as the week of remembrance of the inhumanity of people toward one another, in honour of the victims of the Armenian genocide as well as all other victims of crimes against humanity.

I call upon all members to join me in condemning any attempt by any government to control the freedom of artistic expression of a Canadian artist in general, and more specifically in this case relating to the historical facts of the first genocide of the 20th century.

[Armenia, April 18th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

On April 24, next week, Canadian Armenian communities and people from around the world will remember and commemorate the Armenian genocide that took place over 87 years ago in 1915.

What is the position of the Canadian government on this very tragic moment in the history of mankind?

[The Middle East, April 9th, 2002]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I ask the House for unanimous consent to allow me one minute to present a motion supporting our government's position at the UN calling on Israel to withdraw, resolution 1402.

[The Middle East, April 9th, 2002]

Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate the Bloc Quebecois for bringing this motion to the House. I was going to do the same thing, but unfortunately I was a few minutes late. I do appreciate the fact that we are having this debate tonight to discuss the situation in the Middle East.

As members may know, I and the member for Ottawa Centre have the distinct honour of being born in the Middle East. I was born in Syria and my colleague was born in Lebanon.

Since 1948, there have been five wars in the Middle East in the past: 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982 and now in 2002. I was a Syrian soldier of some form in the 1967 war, so I know a bit of what happens in that part of the world. When I talk, I talk from my personal knowledge and experience as a citizen of Syria in the past.

As the House may recall, in 1982 the present prime minister of Israel, Sharon, invaded Lebanon. It is a coincidence that the same prime minister of Israel has invaded the West Bank. There is a policy of expansionism with this prime minister. What is happening today is exactly the same thing that happened in 1982.

In 1982 members of the Israeli justice system accused Sharon of crimes against humanity. Most recently he was charged again in a Belgian court with crimes against humanity. The witness was prepared to speak up and say that he was following orders but the car he was in blew up and the witness died. Therefore there was no case against Sharon as a war criminal for what happened in 1982.

What has happened lately does not surprise me. I do not think Sharon represents the Israeli or Jewish mentality. I have visited Israel twice in the last few years. I admire the Israeli population and their determination and drive to be successful. I had a chance to visit the tomb of fallen prime minister Rabin, whom I had the honour of nominating for the Nobel Peace Prize. With the killing of the former prime minister by the Israeli right wing, the peace process was also killed.

What has happened lately is a continuation of what has been happening for the last 50 years. There is no justification or no reason why these two countries cannot co-exist together, one Palestine, one Israel. The leaders of some Palestinian organizations and maybe Sharon himself are to blame, not the government. These men have a personal vendetta against each other with people on both sides paying; the Israeli side by suicide bombings and the Palestinian side by rockets, tanks and American supplied helicopters. Every weapon in its arsenal is being used against the Palestinian population.

Every world organization condemns what is happening in the Middle East. Not a single government supports the Israeli aggression on Palestinian territory. As recently as two weeks ago, Turkish prime minister, Ecevit, accused Israel, its number one ally in the region, of genocide. This is like the pot calling the kettle black. If the Turkish prime minister calls what is happening in Israel genocide, we must wonder what the truth of the matter is in the region.

With regret, both Israel and Turkey deny genocide happened to Armenians. However the Turkish government is prepared to call what happened in Israel genocide without referring to what it did in 1915 as genocide against Armenians .

I would like to go further. In the 1990s the Oslo agreement took place between late prime minister Rabin and Arafat. There was a really good chance for peace to occur then in the Middle East. Both nations, Israel and Palestine, could have lived together in peace.

As I said earlier, I regret the death of the late prime minister of Israel.

Since then, 200,000 settlers moved into the West Bank. This is a total and absolute violation of the Oslo agreement. Why does everyone condemn what happened to the Palestinians but no one says that the 167 or the 200 settlements which exist there are illegal? They should not be there. I cannot comprehend or understand why we do not condemn them. Perhaps someone should ask us why we do not condemn them because the settlers are also a sore spot with the Palestinians. They look at them and say that it is another occupation, another expansion of Israeli borders from what they were to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

This recent violence began when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited a Muslim holy site knowing full well that his visit would incite problems with the Palestinian and Muslim populations. He threw the bait and the Arabs and Palestinians jumped on it. That is where the whole thing began. Of course the entire situation of September 11 made things worse, and we all know what happened.

Many people when they phone my office ask why we do not apply the same international rules that we apply in Europe to the Middle East, both on the Arab side and the Israeli side. They ask me why we have war crime procedures for Kosovo, Albania and Bosnia. The House passed a war crimes bill. Why can we not do the same for the Middle East, no matter who commits a war crime? It should not matter whether they are Palestinians or Arabs.

I was in Kuwait recently and made note of a couple of things which I want to share with everyone. In the declaration of human rights proclaimed by the UN general assembly on December 10, 1948, article 3 states “Every person has the right to life, liberty and security of person”. Everyone knows that every hour of every day this article is violated. Why do we not pursue this?

Article 9 states “No one shall be subject to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile”. This has been going on for the last 20 years. I mentioned earlier that 1,500 people were arrested. Why has there been no jury, judge or someone to condemn this, someone to bring this issue to justice on the Palestinian side and the Israeli side?

Two weeks ago, around the end of March, the Arab league had a meeting in Lebanon and endorsed unanimously the position taken by the Saudi government, the crown prince, that they exchange land for peace, security and recognition of the state of Israel. That should be the foundation of a new process. Israel deserves the right to live in a secure border. At the same time Palestinians deserve as much right as any other nation in the world to have their own state, their own country and to run their own affairs. If anyone wants to hold Arafat responsible for anything, they should make him a true leader of a country, not of pieces here and there, and then say that he did not act responsibly.

The former leader of the official opposition mentioned that Arafat is the person responsible because he cannot control it. The proof is here. The hon. member could not control his own backbenchers and lost his own seat. He has already lost his own position. Because one is a leader does not mean the individual can control events, especially when the country is at war.

I will add one final point at the risk of repeating myself. It was said in the past that if we want to make peace, we talk to our enemies. If these two individuals do not speak, there will be no peace and things will escalate. It will be worse and we will all pay for it. I do not think it is in our national interest or any nation's interest to have a war in the Middle East because at the end of the day we will all pay for it. There is no need for it. I believe deeply that both people want to live in peace. They both deserve a homeland and dignity as human beings. Let us help them achieve that dignity and live in peace.

I am sharing my time, Madam Speaker, within my colleague from Gatineau.