BEIRUT: The red, orange and blue stripes of the Armenian flag fluttered beside the cedar of Lebanon Thursday as thousands of Lebanese citizens of Armenian descent protested Turkey's planned participation in the UN peacekeeping forces patrolling South Lebanon. "We, the Armenian community, are against the deployment of Turkish troops in South Lebanon, because of their history as a violent state," explained Hagop Havatian, spokesman for the ARF Tashnak Party, the youth party responsible for coordinating Thursday's demonstration. "Last week we sent letters to every member of the Lebanese Parliament asking them to reconsider this issue. We also sent a letter to [UN Secretary General] Kofi Annan but until now, these has been no reply." Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their ancestors were slaughtered in orchestrated killings by Ottoman Turks during World War I, in an act they maintain can only be seen as genocide. The rally took place at Beirut's Martyrs Square, which honors six Lebanese nationalists who were hanged by the Ottomans during the war.
It was the third such protest organized by the Lebanese-Armenian community, which is said to number over 200,000. The rally drew a larger crowd than previous rallies held in front of UN House in Beirut and in Bourj Hammoud.
"We will continue our refusal in democratic ways," Havatian added. "This act ignores one of the biggest groups in Lebanon. We are hurt and feel humiliated and hope the Lebanese government will reconsider this issue and our feelings."
Razmig Karayan was attending the protest with his girlfriend. "I am here against the Turks," he said. "I don't trust them. They are friends with Israel ... They can't be depended on to work for peace."
A statement circulated at the protest read: "Any participant force in the UNIFIL should be welcomed by the whole Lebanese society ... Turkey continues to lead a hostile foreign policy in the region, especially with its immediate neighbors and still occupies northern Cyprus, continues to blockade Armenia, and refuses to recognize and apologize for the 1915 Armenian genocide it has perpetrated."
Hundreds of students at Armenian private schools attended the rally instead of class, some still sporting school uniforms. The protest grew into a diverse crowd, from babies in strollers to older women carrying walking sticks and teenagers sporting Armenian flags painted on their cheeks.
Narine Bouljhourdjian left a class at the American University of Beirut early to join the protest. She brought a friend on vacation from Canada, who also was of Armenian descent.
"I believe that Turkey does not have the right to work for peace, not with their history. Peace and Turkey just don't correlate," she said.
Behind the two girls, a protester held a sign: "Placing Turkish troops in Southern Lebanon is an insult to the collective memory of Lebanon."
Another placard read: "Murderers cannot be peacekeepers."
In total, Turkey is to deploy some 700 soldiers and civil engineers in Lebanon. Those who landed on Tuesday were the first Muslim peacekeepers to arrive in the country.
Turkey held a sending-off ceremony Thursday for nearly 260 soldiers and civil engineers scheduled to depart for the Southern port city of Tyre on October 19 and are expected to help rebuild damaged bridges and roads.
Earlier Thursday, French MPs approved a bill making it a crime to deny that the 1915-1917 massacres of Armenians was genocide, provoking the fury of the Turkish government. The bill still requires approval by the French Senate and president Jacques Chirac, neither of which is expected, to become law.
"What France has done is very good. The Lebanese government should do the same instead of welcoming Turkish troops," said an elderly demonstrator who gave his name as Taurus. The Lebanese Parliament recognized the Armenian genocide in May 2000.
Overriding widespread opposition, the Turkish Parliament approved a government motion on September 5 to join the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. Turkish peacekeeping troops have also served in Bosnia and Kosovo and have led international operations in Somalia and Afghanistan.