PRESS OFFICE
Armenian Holy Apostolic Church Canadian Diocese
Contact; Deacon Hagop Arslanian, Assistant to the Primate
615 Stuart Avenue, Outremont Quebec H2V 3H2
Tel; 514-276-9479, Fax; 514-276-9960
Email; [email protected]
Website;
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Montreal Gazette Recognizes Armenian Genocide
The Congress of Canadian Armenians announced on Wednesday, July 6,
2005 that The Gazette, Montreal’s leading English language daily
newspaper, has issued a policy statement to their editorial staff
recognizing the Armenian genocide, and providing editorial guidelines.
This recognition is in line with recent policy statements issued by
leading North American daily newspapers such as the Boston Globe and
New York Times. The text of the statement, signed by The Gazette’s
Editor-in-Chief, includes the following:
“It seems clear from the historical record that what took place in
Turkey around 1915 amounted to a genocide, as defined in the 1948 UN
convention on genocide: killing or harming people “with intent to
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious
group”. As a result, reporters and editors are free to use the word
genocide, without quotation marks, in relation to the Armenian tragedy
and should avoid using qualifiers such as “alleged,” “disputed” or
“what Armenians call”. We may report Turkish denials of such a claim
when they are relevant, but we should not feel obliged to include such
denials with every reference to the Armenian genocide.”
“We were encouraged by the sincerity of The Gazette’s senior
management when we met with them in June”, said Taro Alepian,
President of the Congress of Canadian Armenians. “They now join the
growing number of respected newspapers across North America who accept
that the events which took place in Turkey around 1915, which resulted
in the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians, was in fact genocide as
defined by the United Nations. Armenians across Canada extend their
thanks to the editorial staff of The Gazette for ensuring that
editorial content will henceforth reflect historical fact. We hope
that other Canadian newspapers will adopt similar policies on the
Armenian genocide.”
The Congress of Canadian Armenians serves as a united voice to present
Armenian issues to the Canadian public, carries out projects to
preserve and strengthen Armenian life in a multicultural Canada, and
provides a forum where its member organizations can coordinate their
activities. It enjoys the auspices of the Armenian Holy Apostolic
Church Canadian Diocese, and its member organizations include many of
the major Armenian organizations in Canada the largest of which are
the local chapters of the international Armenian General Benevolent
Union and the Tekeyan Cultural Association.
From: Baghdasarian