Petition Opposing Some Provisions in the Protocols

16 September 2009, Canada

We, the signatories, are in agreement with establishing neighbourly international relations between Armenia and Turkey and the lifting of the Turkish blockade. However, we strongly oppose specific stipulations outlined in the Protocols of 31 August 2009 that

• Include provisions for a sub-commission of historians, thus questioning the veracity of the Genocide of the Armenians,
• Recognize only the principle of territorial integrity to the exclusion of the principle of self-determination, effectively legitimizing Turkey’s illegal occupation of Western Armenia, the appropriation of Armenian property, land, historic, cultural, and religious monuments, and jeopardizing the future of Nagorno-Karabagh.

Most Diaspora Armenians are descendants of the Genocide committed by the Ottoman Turks and oppose these potentially deleterious conditions. To protest against their inclusion in the Protocols, we call upon our compatriots in Europe to galvanize all concerned, democratic and progressive forces, including Armenian political parties, associations, and non-affiliated individuals and to organize a peaceful march in Sèvres, in Paris and in Lausanne, Switzerland.

This Petition is now closed