Thousands of Armenians in Brussels anti-Turkish demo
Agence France Presse — English
December 17, 2004 Friday 6:52 PM GMT
BRUSSELS Dec 17 — Thousands of Europeans of Armenian origin
demonstrated during a European Union summit here Friday, and denounced
a decision by the bloc’s leaders to open membership talks with Turkey.
“This is not a negotiation. It is a capitulation. Political Europe
is very seriously compromised,” Laurent Leylekian, the director of
the Euro-Armenian federation, said in a statement.
After a day of frantic haggling, the bloc’s leaders struck a
hard-fought deal Friday securing Turkish promises on the divided
island of Cyprus in return for Ankara winning the historic prize of
a start to EU entry talks.
“This stunning result is without any doubt due to the inflexibility
of Ankara, which has not ceded anything, but also down to the patent
weakness of the union’s political structures,” Leylekian said.
Organisers said some 8,000 people — police gave the figure of 2,300
— of Armenian origin had demonstrated in the Belgian capital during
the key summit, calling on Turkey to admit to genocide against their
people nearly 90 years ago.
They insisted such an acknowledgment must be a precondition for Turkey
to begin talks on joining the EU.
Turkey has always denied the mass killing of Armenians during World
War 1 was genocide, saying the deaths were not ethnically motivated
but resulted from a crackdown on collaborators with the Russians.
The demonstrators outside the EU headquarters came from Armenian
communities in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Russia.
Twenty busloads brought demonstrators from Paris, while planes were
chartered to ferry in others from Athens and Stockholm.
Speakers addressing the crowd included Garo Housepian, an elected
official in the French Mediterranean city of Marseille. He said a
delegation had been received here by the Dutch, who currently preside
over the EU.
Meanwhile in Armenia, more than 200 young people demonstrated outside
the European Union Commission’s office in the capital Yerevan.
“European countries must not weaken because of false reforms in Turkey
and must not integrate into their ranks a country that committed the
great crime against humanity, genocide,” they declared in a letter
to the commission office.
“In agreeing to start negotiations, European countries are taking on
responsibility for this crime,” it added.
In fact the theme of Armenia was not on the official Brussels summit
agenda. Turkey’s EU hopes had instead been threatened by a standoff
over calls for Ankara to recognize Cyprus, diplomats said.
Armenians say 1.5 million of their number died in a genocide between
1915 and 1917. Turkey disputes the scale and nature of the killing,
saying the deaths were not ethnically motivated but resulted from a
crackdown on parts of the population accused of collaborating with
the Russians during World War I.
Separately, in Italy, the anti-immigrant Northern League party which
forms part of the government of Silvio Berlusconi, organised several
demonstrations against the decision to open talks with Turkey.
The party is demanding a referendum be held in Italy on the issue
and has called supporters to demonstrate on Sunday in the northern
city of Milan.