CALL TO ACTION – Canadian Technology Confirmed Being Used Against Armenians

CALL TO ACTION: Canadian Technology Confirmed Being Used Against Armenians

Yesterday, the Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC) released a poignant press release on how Canadian manufactured state-of-the-art camera and target acquisition systems sold to Turkey are being provided to Azerbaijan - a complete violation of their export permits and Canadian and international arms control laws. There is irrefutable evidence now that Canadian technology is being directly used as a vessel for mass destruction of Artsakh’s infrastructure and the senseless death of its civilians.

The ANCC emphasised that if Canada does not take immediate steps to permanently ban all arms to Turkey and pressure the international community to follow suit, Canada will be complicit to the war crimes committed by Turkish-backed Azerbaijan against Artsakh.

View the ANCC’s full press release here: https://anccanada.org/were-not-talking-about-a-few-cameras-were-talking-about-armenian-blood-on-canadian-hands/

Further, per a recent CBC article, Kelsey Gallagher, a researcher with the disarmament group Project Ploughshares who has studied Canadian exports of drone technology to Turkey, declared that he has no doubt that the device presented by the Armenian military was a Canadian-made WESCAM CMX-15D system and that diverting these drones to Azerbaijan without getting Canada's permission is illegal.

TODAY’S ASK:

1) Share ANCC’s press release with the #SanctionTurkey #RecognizeArtsakh hashtags across all social media platforms. Tag Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne in your posts. This can easily be shared by selecting the following:

Twitter:

Click HERE to automatically share on Twitter

Add: @JustinTrudeau @FP_Champagne #SanctionTurkey #RecognizeArtsakh

Facebook:

Click HERE to automatically share on Facebook

Add: @JustinPJTrudeau @FPChampagneSMC #SanctionTurkey #RecognizeArtsakh

2) If you haven’t already done so, please take a few moments and send the Action Alert from October 19th to Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne Canada, found below:

Action Alert: Canada Complicit in Drone Attacks, Turkey to be held Accountable

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04/27/2024

Dear Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada,

On October 19, 2020, a video was published by the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Artsakh which featured a camera/optic from a drone that had been shot down in Artsakh. The camera in this video is none other than the target-acquisition gear produced by L3Harris Wescam, in Burlington, Ontario. This video unequivocally confirms that Turkey has provided drones using Canadian targeting technology to Azerbaijan and that Canadian technology is actively being used against the innocent civilians in Artsakh (https://twitter.com/Karabakh_MoD/status/1318279222968942592).

Canada took a commendable step earlier this month when it froze permits enabling the export of target-acquisition gear produced by L3Harris Wescam to Turkish drone-maker Baykar, pending an investigation by the department of Global Affairs. The Canadian government is required under domestic law and under the International Arms Trade Treaty to prevent, detect and stop the diversion of military goods to users other than intended customers. It’s also compelled to stop exports of such restricted goods that are shown to be used to harm civilians. For this reason, in 2019 Canada froze the export of such military equipment to Turkey after Ankara's incursion into Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Syria.  These repeated violations further demonstrate Turkey’s complete disregard to follow the terms of any agreement.  Based on this additional and incontrovertible piece of video evidence, Canada must now turn this temporary suspension of arms export permits into a permanent ban.

Furthermore, Canada must now condemn the acts of Turkey.  Turkey must be held accountable for violating the conditions of the export permits and should face the appropriate diplomatic consequences. We request that Canada impose the necessary sanctions on Turkey, expelling the Turkish Ambassador and withdrawing the Canadian Ambassador in Ankara. The use of these drones is facilitating the human suffering of Armenian civilians and are clearly violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.  Canada must take a strong stance now before it becomes further complicit in the war crimes perpetrated by Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Sincerely,

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