Genocide? Now look at this Chewbacca..

[Pekka]

Our President does it once again. Of course, hailing from SDP, and being old school red, meaning closet communist and hater of west back in the days (of course not anymore), she basically denies the genocide that happened in Armenia. Why? No one knows why.

http://www.helsinginsanomat.fi/english/article/Halonen+in+Armenia+asked+for+recognition+of+Turkish+massacre%0D%0A/1101981101620

Read it.

Few snippets:

"Armenian journalists asked the Finnish President if she would publicly recognise the events as an act of genocide. A number of countries, including France, have already done so." ........
"President Halonen avoided a direct response to the questions, saying instead "We are building a common future with Armenia".
According to the President, Finland is not in the habit of giving recognition to historical events. She said that every generation has the right to re-examine history, and every country has a right to its own history. She added that countries should not become prisoners of history."

.. and look, this is a Chewbacca...

adding injury to insult, she further went on comparing the situation of Nagorno-Karabakh to Finland and Åland. They have nothing in common. And the audience got pissed off about it too.

HOORAY!

I'm not sure if this is better, worse or the same kind of achievement when she went to China and smiled to press and said China is a nation that is committed to human rights issues.

HOORAY!

[Ted Striker]

I'd hit it.

[VetLegion]

You'd hit... Halonen?

Here is one to you Ted, for knowing no boundaries

[DRoseDARs]

Would someone kindly translate this jibberish please?

Takaisin

Pyytämääsi resurssia ei voida näyttää, koska pyynnössä esiintyy mahdollisesti haitallisia merkkejä.

Mikäli olit tekemässä hakua, ole hyvä ja tee haku uudelleen ilman erikoismerkkejä.

Takaisin

I'm pretty sure it says "Page not found" but I don't speak Elvish.

[Ancyrean]

Re: Genocide? Now look at this Chewbacca..

Originally posted by Pekka
... she basically denies the genocide that happened in Armenia. Why? No one knows why.

The answer is, as she said:

Finland is not in the habit of giving recognition to historical events. She said that every generation has the right to re-examine history, and every country has a right to its own history. She added that countries should not become prisoners of history.

You and many others who sympathise with the Armenian teminology generally have no idea about the untold thousands of Turks that died at the hands of Armenian nationalists at the time and the circumstances in which Eastern Anatolia erupted into flames. This is compounded by the fact that it seems so politically correct to side with those who play themselves as the hapless, helpless victimcs whose heaven was disturbed by uncivilised monsters.

Turkey already accepts the fact that hundreds of thousands of Armenians died during the relocations. But it is against the retroactive labeling of the issue with a legally modern concept, and it is against presenting the issue as a one sided, unprovoked and thoroughly planned, deliberate act.

Armenians have made the issue the cornerstone of their national identity. It is as if being Armenian has no substance without it. Consequently, they fervently try to have their opinion accepted by everyone else, hope that a distortion, once repeated enough times, will create its own reality.

However, falling into this trap and putting the issue under a one sided-light by placing it in a context of "genocide" is extremely offensive to Turkey and Turks, it's outright outrageous.

There's no univarsal consensus among historians on the issue, not enough evidence to support Armenian claims, and a debate about the issue is going on. On top of that, parliamentary declarations of this or that country do not create historical reality. A parliament's declaration for example, to the effect that that "British rule in the 13 colonies were beneficial to the colonial population" does not establish that as a historical fact. So does not a country's recognition of this or that event establish that event. These remain nothing more than political declarations and it indeed does not help the debate.

Perhaps, that was why your President was acting according to the dignity and responsibility of her office.

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by VetLegion
You'd hit... Halonen?

Here is one to you Ted, for knowing no boundaries

TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE!!!

[Az]

[Whaleboy]

Finland?

...hardcore

[Tattila the Hun]

Originally posted by DRoseDARs
Would someone kindly translate this jibberish please?



I'm pretty sure it says "Page not found" but I don't speak Elvish.

Back

The requested resource can not be shown, because the the request could contain harmfull symbols.

If you were doing a search, please do it again without the special symbols.

Back

Propably doesn't like scandics, the a's and o's with dots. But harmfull?

[DRoseDARs]

Funny letters cause computer viruses? Learn something new everyday...

[lord of the mark]

I admire what Turkey has accomplished since 1919. Turkey today is a model of democracy.


But the historical record is what it is.

From Wiki:

"There is a general agreement among Western historians, that the Armenian genocide did happen. The Association of Genocide Scholars (represent the major body of scholars who study genocide in North America and Europe), for instance, do formerly recognize the event, and even consider it as undeniable. On the other hand, the academic recognition is not representative of government and media recognition. Many governments, including the United States, United Kingdom , and ironically Israel do not officially use the word genocide to describe these events, due in part to their strong commercial and political ties to Turkey, though some government officials have used it personally. Many newspapers for a long time would not use the word genocide without disclaimers such as "alleged" and many continue to do so. A number of those policies have now been reversed so that even casting doubt on the term is against editorial policy, as is the case with the New York Times. In recent years the number of countries recognizing the event as genocide officially, despite threats of economic retaliation by Turkey have grown. Two recent examples are France and Switzerland. In Switzerland, Turkish historian Yusuf Halacoglu has faced charges of violation of Swiss laws against holocaust denial as a result of a speech he held in Winterthur in 2004. Turkish entry talks with the European Union were met with a number of calls to consider the event as genocide, though it was eventually not a specific stipulation.

Countries recognizing an Armenian genocide, include: Argentina, Armenia, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Lebanon, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Uruguay, Vatican City and Venezuela.

European Parliament
Council of Europe, Parliamentary Assembly
United Nations Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities
The majority of US states also recognize the Armenian Genocide, however there is no federal (country-wide) recognition.
The Canadian House of Commons voted to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide. The federal government, in opposing the motion, did not express a position on whether the genocide took place.
International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) Report Prepared for TARC
The Association of Genocide Scholars
Union of American Hebrew Congregations
World Council of Churches
The Turkish Human Right Organization
The League for Human Rights "

[VetLegion]

Turkish historian Yusuf Halacoglu has faced charges of violation of Swiss laws against holocaust denial as a result of a speech he held in Winterthur in 2004.

The Swiss have laws against holocaust denial?
Is that true?

[VetLegion]

And I'm surprised Denmark isn't among the countries listed.

[Traianvs]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
I admire what Turkey has accomplished since 1919. Turkey today is a model of democracy.


But the historical record is what it is.

Yeah but what good does a democracy do when human rights are being violated every day. The Turks torture and neglect their psyichiatric patients for example, and some of them won't get free ever even when there is nothing wrong with them anymore.

and that's just one example

[Solomwi]

Originally posted by VetLegion
You'd hit... Halonen?

Here is one to you Ted, for knowing no boundaries

Being a world leader, even if it is only of Finland, is a +4 modifier on the traditional 1-10 hittability scale.