France and Canada pea in Turkey's cereal

[pritchke]

I was wondering when this was going to happen with countries recognizing the mass killings of Armenians as genocide. We know it happened yet it is like we just don't want to offend the turks. Hell Germany had to put up with it so the turks are just as guilty and should have to deal with its own stigma as well. Denial is an insult to the victims to suggest they never existed.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2...569656-ap.html

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey has recalled its ambassadors to Canada and France for "a short time" to protest moves in both countries that recognize the mass killings of Armenians as genocide, the Foreign Ministry announced Monday.

[ 05-08-2006, 02:15 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

[johnny]

Just for the record...i have no problems whatsoever with offending the Turks, in fact, i enjoy doing it.

[Szass-Tam]

I refuse to allow Turkey into the EU until she admits the Armenian genocide, or at least mentions it happened in her schools. But that decision is not mine.

[ 05-08-2006, 03:41 PM: Message edited by: Szass-Tam ]

[True_Moose]

I don't think this country can continue functioning without the presence of the Turkish ambassador. Whatever will we do?

Admit you were wrong almost a century ago. Get over it.

[johnny]

You don't understand, their ego's are bigger than anything else in this world. We're talking about the people who think it's normal to kill another man when the family's honour is at stake here.

[Kakero]

Things happen during the Ottoman period bother them so much? Interesting!

[Aerich]

Of course, the next question is why it took the international community so long to recognize it.

I wonder how much film-making had to do with the decisions. The well-known (for a Canadian) film-maker Atom Egoyan wrote and directed a film called Ararat that shed light on the issue. If you haven't seen it, it's well worth a rental, even if you don't care about the past or present political implications. It's quite an innovative and cerebral movie.

[shamrock_uk]

It's not that the international community didn't know about it, simply that Turkey is far too important to sour relations with over something that happened so long ago.

As a successful and democratic (the odd military intervention aside ) Muslim country, Turkey is of huge importance to Western leaders seeking to show that they aren't crusading against Islam. For the EU in particular, the importance of a Muslim country that is practically begging to join cannot be overstated.

Besides, lots of countries don't teach about their darker periods. The Japanese have a rather woeful record in this record but it hasn't stopped them from being treated as a close partner by other nations. At least in my experience, the Brits hardly mention Empire in their schools.

For what its worth, I think Canada and France have every right to pea in their cereal. Within the EU however, especially with regards to Turkey joining, this issue often serves as a cover for the real reason for opposition - racial.

One question worth asking - what good would acknowledging this as genocide do? Are they supposed to compensate the grandchildren of those affected? Is it right that current Turks should pay for the crimes of Turks nearly 100 years ago? After all, it's changed a lot since then.

[johnny]

Yeah, they stopped killing Armenians, and focus on Kurds nowadays.

[pritchke]

Originally posted by johnny: You don't understand, their ego's are bigger than anything else in this world. We're talking about the people who think it's normal to kill another man when the family's honour is at stake here.

I was going to say the same thing but I din't want to paint them all with the same brush. I once had a Turkish manager at an Engineering Firm I worked at, talk about inflated ego. If I had to describe him I would be banned from the site for profanity. I lasted 4 months and after he almost got my team killed while driving us from a work site and putting up with his crap for so long I gave him the FU and quit. The guys ego is so big that he thinks speed limits and stop lights are just recommendations and he doesn't need to follow them. His attitude was everybody else is always wrong and I am always right. Some reason he always complained about my attitude, probaly because I did not fear him or worship the ground he walked on, I think he thought he was some sort of deity or something. I am sure there are lots of nice Turks but he was the only one I ever met. The reason he gave me such a hard time is I didn't take his crap and told him what I thought every time he asked for my advice which usually didn't agree with what he thought. When he didn't agree he would blow smoke in my face a call me a failure, and I would say "at least I am not an asshole", fun stuff. But I had to quit because I was started to have evil thoughts about taking him out.

Ararat was actually a good movie there were times I was a little confused I wasn't sure I wanted to cry or go hunt down my manager since he resembled that Turkish officer that was ordering the deaths except my Manager was a few hundred pounds heavier.

[ 05-09-2006, 11:26 AM: Message edited by: pritchke ]