Controversy over lower and upper case: OEK lawmaker suggests spelling 'Ottoman' in the lower case
The Armenian parliament today debated a bill to condemn the genocide of Greeks and Assyrians by the Ottoman government during 1915-1923. Heritage faction lawmaker Zaruhi Postanjyan asked co- rapporteur Shirak Torosyan, a lawmaker from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), to comment on [first president] Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s statement that the Declaration on the Armenian Genocide is incomplete and hence cannot be presented to the international community. “Your question has nothing to do with the bill we are discussing today,” said Mr Torosyan. Ms Postanjyan then asked whether [as a historian] Shirak Torosyan knew if there were other nationalities living in the Ottoman Empire. Like Kurds and Yazidis, who were also massacred or deported by the Ottoman government. In reply, Mr Torosyan said Yazidis and Kurds were massacres at different times and mostly between the 16th and 18th centuries. “Today we know that Yazidis are being killed in the north of Iraq. The Turkish authorities can also be blamed for today’s massacres of Yazidis,” he said. Hovhannes Margaryan, a lawmaker from the Country of Law Party (OEK), claimed that Ottoman be spelt in the lower case in the bill [as a sign of displeasure while] the two nationalities – ‘greeks’ and ‘assyrians’ – be capitalized. In this way, Armenia will show its attitude towards these two nations and condemn the actions of the Ottoman Empire. Vice-Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov, one of the co-authors of the bill, retorted that Armenians are a Christian nation and the proposed changes will hardly show our position on the matter.
