Every November people across Britain and the world are invited to observe “Red Wednesday”, an annual day of commemoration for the 360 million Christians estimated to be living under severe religious persecution. Armenians have often been among these millions.
Indeed, at the heart of the leafy London suburb of Ealing, a silent witness to the horrors of Armenian history now stands tall. The striking flame-shaped 6-foot monument, carved from tuff, Armenia’s national stone, was recently installed as England’s first dedicated memorial to the victims of the Genocide against its people.
The genocide Armenian Christians experienced at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, which historians consider the first “modern” genocide, claimed the lives of up to 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1916. On the instruction of Ottoman politician Talaat Pasha, Armenians were marched into the Syrian desert and brutally massacred, raped, robbed and starved.
The Turkish government still refuses to acknowledge these atrocities as anything more than an accident of war, but the historical consensus is that it was an organised, violent and deliberate attempt to eradicate this ancient Christian community, who had long faced periodic violence and systemic persecution under their Muslim rulers.
However, London’s Armenian community has been left feeling “under attack” after the monument dedicated to this brutal historic episode was vandalised following attempts by masked extremists to interrupt its unveiling ceremony.
As the 23 September inauguration ceremony unfolded, what should have been a solemn occasion quickly turned into a shocking display of hatred and attempted intimidation. A group of men arrived (pictured), some of whom had concealed their faces, waving Turkish flags and grinning as they displayed fists with the little finger and index finger raised: a “Turkic hand gesture” associated with the Grey Wolves, a proscribed terror group in several countries.
The Grey Wolves, a Turkish nationalist organisation, were behind spates of bombings and shootings throughout the 1970s, targeting not only Armenians but also Kurds and members of the opposition Democratic Peoples’ Party in Turkey. The group has displayed hostility to most non-Turkish or non-Sunni elements within Turkey and has distributed Turkish translations of Nazi literature.
In 2020, France banned the group for hate speech and political violence. In 2019 Austria outlawed its characteristic hand gesture. They are also outlawed in Kazakhstan.
Despite the group’s attempted provocation, attendees like Anna, a 13-year-old scout who spoke at the event, stood firm. “Me and my fellow scouts were hurt and shocked by the disrespect of the individuals who decided to turn up and show the sign of a Turkish extremist group,” she told me.
“These disgusting actions did not interrupt the ceremony, and we continued to proudly speak about our country, as we spoke and told the stories of our ancestors while they stood in the back. They failed to interrupt our ceremony, showing how strong us Armenians are when we are together.”
“The Grey Wolves gesture is the moral equivalent of a Nazi salute,” explained Annette Moskofian, who chairs the UK’s Armenian National Committee, a grassroots community body.
“To me personally, history is repeating itself. The idea of one nation, two states between Turkey and Azerbaijan means the Azerbaijani regime wants to finish what the Ottomans started in 1915, and that there are people in the UK who share these ideas makes us feel under attack,” she declared.
“Even in a civilised developed country like the UK, we have seen these attempts to intimidate our community, and the extremists who agree with the approach of the Turkish and Azeri governments feel able to threaten us with their hatred and racism.”
For the Armenian community in the UK, the attacks on their event and the genocide memorial itself did not feel like an isolated incident; instead they have served as a harsh reminder of the challenges their community has long faced, with little external support.
“Within 10 days of the inauguration ceremony, the memorial was desecrated by bright yellow paint, and the word Genocide on the plaque was scratched as if someone was trying to erase that specific word,” Moskofian explained. Fortunately, the memorial is under CCTV camera surveillance, and the police are actively investigating the incident as a “hate crime”. Moskofian says she is “confident that the perpetrators will be brought to justice and serve as an example”.
This disturbing display of extremism occurred at the peak of the recent crisis in Artsakh, which Baku had subjected to a harsh humanitarian blockade since last December. In September, the crisis provoked the exodus of almost all of the 100,000 ethnic Armenians from the enclave as Azeri forces launched a takeover, ending more than 1500 years of Armenian Christian presence in the small, mountainous region.
Moskofian shares a personal connection to the genocide. Her grandmother was a survivor, the sole member of a family of 100 who lived to tell the tale. “The Armenian Genocide Memorial Inauguration was a very proud moment for me as her descendant”.
“We have been keen to erect a monument to the Genocide ever since Ealing Council officially recognized it in 2010.”
“Although this was for me a token recognition until the UK joins other countries, including the US, in officially naming the atrocities committed by the Ottoman Empire against Armenians during that period as what it was: a genocide.”
For now, a flame-shaped symbol of the eternal souls of Armenian genocide victims continues to stand in a leafy corner of London. Sadly it seems that the embers of hatred are still glowing nearby.
At the time of writing the Home Office has yet to respond to a request for comment regarding its policy towards The Grey Wolves.
https://catholicherald.co.uk/british-armenians-fear-a-repeat-of-history-as-genocide-memorial-vandalised/