PRESS RELEASE
Armenia Solidarity-Nor Serount Cultural Association
c/o The Temple of Peace, Cathays Park, Cardiff
[email protected]. 00 44 7718982732
The following letter was sent this week to Labour Party Members of the
UK parliament
We ask for the help of Armenians and Assyrians worldwide to increase
the pressure on the British Prime Minister e-mail address :
[email protected](with a copy also to Armenia Solidarity)
Armenian & Assyrian Genocide Recognition-it has to be now or never for
Labour
Some are of the opinion that time is running out for Labour. That may
or may not be so, but we ask you to consider an issue of infinitely more
importance. The present Labour administration guided by the Presbyterian
conscience of Gordon Brown has the opportunity to leave an everlasting
legacy to the world.
As Turkey’s closest ally, and her only hope of opening the door of
entry into the EU, Britain has a leverage which she still hesitates to
use. To collude with Turkey’s denial of the 1915-22 Genocide by fully
supporting her distortions of history and remaining silent on her
present cultural Genocide of her minorities is certainly something which
few who possess an ethical framework to their beliefs can tolerate.
This bizarre state of affairs was exemplified this week when the
Church of Scotland General Assembly passed a motion calling on the UK
Government to recognise the Armenian Genocide. The Prime Minister, a
member of the Church, was present at the General Assembly. The
government has nothing to lose by taking on board this request because
Britain’s support for Turkey’s EU candidature will far outweigh her
position on the truth of the Genocide in her long-term diplomatic
relationship with Turkey!
Successive UK governments have let this issue pass in the hope that
it will be consigned to oblivion after the centenary. The fact that it
happened so long ago should now make it easier for Britain to recognise
a self-evident truth which now stares at us in the face and is a sore
blot on our so called "ethical" foreign policy.
Successive UK governments have consistently stood side by side with
the Turkish State in her persecution of the brave souls who have dared
to mention the Genocide and have faced prosecution. The repeal of
Article 301 will be no solution at all. The wake-up call that Turkey
desperately needs is her closest ally having the courage to go public on
this issue which will otherwise continue to fester for years to come
If the Conservative Party are returned to power in two years time we
frankly have no hope in hell of seeing the day come when the British
government will deal with this issue. It has to be now or never as time
is also running out for Armenia.
I appeal to you to persuade the Prime Minister to end his shameful
denial of this truth (as exemplified by his reply to an on-line petition
in November) The fact that he is the only UK based historian to hold
this denialist view must be a matter of extreme embarrassment. I
understand Mr Jim Murphy, the Minister for Europe, is looking at the
issue afresh. I request that you approach Mr Murphy for a final decision
on the issue.
You may also assist this persuasion by signing Andrew Dismore’s EDM 797
on the Genocide,
In parliament back in 1915, Robert Cecil of the Foreign Office,
representing the government, admitted that these were the worst
massacres ever committed by a government.He also said that these
massacres were premeditated, and that no Armenian revolt had taken place
The Prime Minister is isolated amongst UK -based historians; he is
isolated amongst the Members of his own Church and he is isolated
amongst past UK Leaders who recognised that a Holocaust had occurred
(David Lloyd George, Winston Churchill).
To hesitate to grapple with this moral problem for fear of harming
perceived British financial interests seems symptomatic of indecision,
lack of courage, and indeed of moral decay.
Yours sincerely
Eilian Williams
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
