Ottoman Parade Cancelled: Might Have Offended Armenians

City Council members Paul Krekorian and Eric Garcetti applauded the decision by a Turkish group to call off a scheduled parade in Hollywood near Little Armenia featuring an Ottoman military marching band.

The march scheduled for Oct. 3 offended many in the Armenian community which recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of Armenian independence Sept. 21.

"The parade's planning and execution, in a heavily Armenian-populated community, leaves no question that the Ottoman Military Marching Band is brazenly taunting the Armenian American community in a blatant example of hate speech," the Armenian National Committee of America said in a statement.

Ottoman Turks perpetrated the Armenian Genocide, in which an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed beginning in 1915. Turkey officially denies that a genocide took place.

The Pacifica Institute, a Turkish-American cultural advocacy organization applied for a permit to hold a parade in Hollywood Monday evening centered around the military marching band Mehter. A representative from the group requested the police department cancel its permit this morning.

Spokeswoman Hafsa Rai said the group never intended to offend the Armenian community.

"We never wanted to offend anyone. The reaction by the Armenian community was really a surprise to us," Rai said.

She said the group cancelled the parade because the band is unlikely to make it to Los Angeles from Turkey because of logistical difficulties, including trouble with their contract, insurance and challenges booking plane tickets.

Rai said the parade was simply to promote the third annual Anatolian Cultures Festival in Costa Mesa Oct. 6-9. She said the festival recognizes Armenian heritage, including a scale model of the Akhtamar Church, an early Armenian church. She said the festival is intended to celebrate all ethnicities that have lived in the land that is now Turkey.

Krekorian, the first Armenian to serve on the Los Angeles City Council, and Garcetti called the parade blatant provocation.

"This planned performance, supposedly to celebrate an event taking place in Orange County, is a provocation of the Armenian community at a time when the community celebrates 20 years of Armenian independence," the councilmen said in a joint statement.

"While we as council members, support and defend freedom of speech as guaranteed by the First Amendment, we could not stand idly by as this planned march was designed to incite and inflame the Armenian community at a time when it is celebrating a historical milestone," they said.

Rai said the Ottoman marching band was chosen for the parade because
Turks created the first marching band in history.

"The military aspect was not something we were focusing on," she said.