Council’s executive committee voted Wednesday to force city bureaucrats and the next batch of councillors to figure out how to respond to a contentious request for a privately funded memorial, on public property, to the 1915 Ottoman genocide of the Armenian minority.

Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly, a former history teacher, wanted the memorial approved. But the request faced strong and emotional opposition from members of the local Turkish community, who, like the government of Turkey, reject the scholarly consensus that a genocide indeed occurred.

Turkish-Canadian residents packed the committee room. They told the councillors that no court has delivered a verdict of genocide, that Armenians also committed human rights abuses, and that a memorial would foster acrimony and lead to Turkish children being bullied in city schools.

The committee then voted 8-1 in favour of a proposal from Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti to ask city officials to report back in 2015 — after the election — after seeking input from the two communities and the provincial and federal governments.

Councillor Shelley Carroll, who sought approval for the donated memorial on behalf of the local Armenian community, said the community wanted to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the beginning of the genocide in April 2015. She said the deferral means the memorial will now be approved “on the 12th of never.”

Mayor Rob Ford skipped most of the debate and did not speak on the issue. Some of the comments made by other members of the committee:

Councillor Peter Leon: “We’ve come a long way since this unfortunate mishap occurred in that historical time. And we’ve come a long way with other unfortunate issues that happened after that. Toronto is truly unique because we get along with each other.”

Councillor Anthony Perruzza: “When we first immigrated here — I come from central Italy. You will know that in Italy, there’s a lot of animosity, and a lot of history, between the north and the south, between different clans, in the different regions of the country. But you know, when we came here — we were living on a street called St. Lucie — and along that street there were a lot of Italians. There were Italians from northern Italy, Italians from southern Italy, and all of those other different factions, and I’ve got to tell you, when it was wine-making time, they collaborated. They collaborated . . . to make sausages and soppressata, some prosciutto and so on, and vice-versa. So what we brought here to this country, yes is our diversity — but not our intolerance. What we left in check at the door was our animosity towards each other.”

Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti: “I’ve never favoured giving any of our parks to any organizations, be it for a dollar, be it for any donation — you’ll recall the nudist beach issue, where I was infamous for taking off my shirt. There was a reason for it — I didn’t want to give it to the nudists for a dollar a year. And until I took off my shirt, it wasn’t as controversial as this issue.”

“I’m sorry I don’t know international law. But I’m a councillor, for crying out loud, who makes $105,000 a year … so I apologize that I don’t know, Mr. Chairman, I apologize for that; I apologize if I’ve upset anybody. But I was elected to cut grass, fill potholes, make sure our curbs are in place, and to make sure my constituents are happy with the municipal level of government.”

Councillor Frank Di Giorgio: “Trying to put it in context for myself, I think when one speaks of the Holocaust, I don’t think there seems to be, historically, any disagreement, or at least any points of debate, as to whether an issue, the Holocaust actually occurred and in the numbers it did occur. The analogy that comes forward for me, with respect to the Armenian situation, is, and I don’t want to bring this up again, is the situation of apartheid that we dealt with …you know, ‘is this really apartheid’ and all those kind of things, where there seemed to be some conflicting views as to whether something actually exists currently … so the debate I’m looking at today is in that vein and not so much a comparison to the Holocaust, for me.” (Di Giorgio clarified in a post-meeting interview that he was referring not to South African Apartheid, about which there is no dispute, but to the debate about the phrase “Israeli apartheid,” which has been considered by council in the context of the Pride parade.)