Not to allow Turkish peacekeepers to Southern Lebanon as part of the UN peacekeeping forces, we act as a united front, editor-in-chief of the Azdak, the largest Armenian newspaper of Lebanon, Shahan Kandakharyan stated in an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net. In his words, at the community level Armenian political parties and NGOs will make statements. «The Armenian community has no discrepancies over this issue. We also hold protest actions in front of a number of embassies of western countries. We handed letters to ambassadors and diplomatic representatives, indicating grounds for not admitting Turkish troops in the south of Lebanon. The special message of Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is among respective actions,» he said.

The editor-in-chief of the Azdak also noted that local, regional and world media pay much attention to protest actions of the Armenian community. «We hope our efforts will not be in vain and Turkey will not be included in the UN peacekeeping contingent. A country, which is a strategic and military partner of Israel and blocks Cyprus must not be admitted to Lebanon. Also a country, where human rights are violated and the Armenian Genocide of 1915 is denied cannot take part in settlemetn of the Middle East crisis,» noted Shahan Kandakharyan.

Full text of the interview