Garry Aslanyan

Letter to Embassy periodical

Wrong on genocides

In his recent story on the Armenian genocide (RE: Jan. 26, "Sucking up to Armenians"), Gwynne Dyer says he goes to France often and knows it all.

First, Mr. Dyer doesn't seem to know anything about French politics. As a Canadian living on the border of France and Switzerland I witness each day thousands of people crossing the frontier for work and other business. Those who work with me say that there are more French who are against this law than those who are for it. As far as the politics and elections are concerned, Mr. Sarkozy may not be winning any new votes.

Second, Mr. Dyer doesn't seem to know that the new law is not specific to the Armenian genocide; it applies to all genocides that France has recognized. My French co-workers or my French cleaning lady never question the Armenian genocide; they are just indifferent to the new law.

And third, Mr. Dyer's "comparative analysis" of genocides assumes that all genocides have to be identical with the same sequence of events to qualify for the same punishment. Just because the Armenian genocide's sequencing does not match that of the Jewish Holocaust doesn't make it any less worthy of the term.

Garry Aslanyan
Geneva, Switzerland

Online: http://www.embassymag.ca/page/view/letters4-02-08-2012
Published | Publié: 2012-01-26
Received | Reçu: 2012-01-27 2:08 AM