EAFJD protests U.N. decision on cancellation of exhibit on Rwanda Genocide

PanARMENIAN.Net - The European Armenian Federation calls upon the United Nations to reverse its decision to cancel an exhibition dedicated to the Tutsi genocide.



The EAFJD told PanARMENIAN.Net that in a letter sent to Mr Kiyotaka Akasaka, a U.N. General Undersecretary, the European Armenian Federation protested against his decision to cancel an exhibition on the 13th anniversary of the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda that would have taken place in the international organization's buildings in New York.



The exhibition, sponsored by the Aegis Trust NGO, would have been inaugurated on Monday 9th April by Mr Ban Ki-Moon, the General Secretary of the United Nations. In order to illustrate the Tutsi genocide, the exhibition recalled the historical continuity of genocidal processes; in this regard, one of the displayed panels said that "after the First World War, during which one million Armenians were killed in Turkey, the Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin urged the Society of Nations to recognize barbarian crimes as international crimes."



However, after pressure from Turkey, which was caused by this allusion to the Armenian Genocide, Mr Akasaka unacceptably decided to cancel the exhibition on his own initiative.



"Your decision, as reported by the press, is a severe retreat that questions the credibility of your institution," wrote Hilda Tchoboian, the chairperson of the European Armenian Federation. "It would be immoral and politically dangerous for an exhibition, which actually aims at preventing genocides and denouncing the heinous ideologies leading to them, to allow, under your auspices, the triumph of denial that is supposed to be opposed by the United Nations," continued the chairperson of the Federation.



In the past, the UN successfully resisted Turkey's denial: despite ten years of threats and various maneuvers from the Turkish government, a report prepared by the British Benjamin Whitaker, mentioning the Armenian Genocide among past genocides, was adopted in August 1985 by a specialist subcommittee at the United Nations. "We solemnly ask Mr Akasaka to reconsider his decision and to allow this exhibition to proceed, without any censorship or alteration, in compliance with the leading principles of the United Nations," concluded Tchoboian.