Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Internal Documents Reveal UK Officials Misled Parliament On Armenian

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Internal Documents Reveal UK Officials Misled Parliament On Armenian

    INTERNAL DOCUMENTS REVEAL UK OFFICIALS MISLED PARLIAMENT ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
    By Harut Sassounian

    The California Courier
    Nov 6, 2009

    A prominent legal expert, Mr. Geoffrey Robertson, exposed this week
    the false and inaccurate statements on the Armenian Genocide made by
    the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). The international
    jurist revealed that for many years the FCO (Foreign Ministry) had
    misled the British Parliament on the facts of the Armenian Genocide
    in order to curry favor with the Turkish government.

    The 40-page meticulously-researched report, commissioned by the
    Armenian Centre of London, is based on hitherto secret documents
    obtained from the Foreign Office through the Freedom of Information
    Act. Mr. Robertson, the author of a report titled, "Was there an
    Armenian Genocide?" served as first President of the UN War Crimes
    Court in Sierra Leone.

    Mr. Robertson had to make repeated requests over several months to
    the British government in order to obtain internal documents that
    the Foreign Office was legally obligated to release. According to
    the FCO, some of the documents were not released at all, while those
    eventually made public were partially blacked out, in order not to
    damage Britain's relations with Turkey.

    In his report, Mr. Robertson explains that the Armenian Centre had
    asked him "to consider the attitude of the British government in
    refusing to accept that the massacres of Armenians in 1915-16 amounted
    to genocide, and whether its reasons for taking this position are
    valid and sustainable in international law."

    Regrettably, today's British officials have forgotten their
    government's declaration, issued jointly with France and Russia
    on May 28, 1915, warning that "in view of the crimes of Turkey
    against humanity and civilization," the three great powers would hold
    responsible "all members of the Ottoman government" who are implicated
    in the Armenian massacres.

    The recently obtained internal documents reveal the Foreign Office's
    misleading, false and sinister intent. In a 1999 memorandum, addressed
    to Minister of State for Europe Joyce Quin and others, the FCO stated
    that it is not the British government's obligation to decide what
    constitutes genocide: "Investigating, analyzing and interpreting
    history is a matter for historians." In contrast, Attorney Robertson
    points out the government's "basic error" in relying "on historians
    to decide a legal issue." He explains that "deciding what amounts to
    genocide is a matter for judgment according to international law,
    and not al all is a matter for historians. Historians establish
    facts: lawyers must judge whether those facts amount to a breach of
    international law."

    In the same memorandum, the Foreign Office states that there is no
    documentary evidence proving that the mass killings of Armenians
    were a result of deliberate state policy. Mr. Robertson calls this
    statement "another canard -- that appears routinely and repeatedly"
    in internal FCO communications -- "the notion that there must be some
    written document that records a government or leadership decision to
    exterminate the Armenian people." Mr. Robertson points out that "no
    such document, of course, exists in relation to the Nazi Holocaust."

    Clearly, the Foreign Office is more concerned about the domestic and
    overseas ramifications of acknowledging the Armenian Genocide than the
    crime of genocide itself. Mr. Robertson points out: "the memorandum
    goes on rather cynically to consider the clout of the campaign to
    recognise the genocide and notes that 'the campaign does not appear at
    this stage to have enough support or direction to seriously embarrass
    HMG Her Majesty's Government.'"

    The Foreign Office also places a higher premium on appeasing Turkey
    than on the moral issues arising from the attempted extermination of
    an entire nation. "HMG is open to criticism in terms of the ethical
    dimension," the FCO readily admits. "But given the importance of our
    relations (political, strategic and commercial) with Turkey, and that
    recognising the genocide would provide no practical benefit to the UK
    or the few survivors of the killings still alive today, nor would it
    help a rapprochement between Armenia and Turkey, the current line is
    the only feasible option." Mr. Robertson sarcastically, yet sadly,
    remarks: "This particular genocide could not be recognised -- not
    because it had not taken place, but because it was politically and
    commercially inconvenient to do so."

    Another false argument advanced by the Foreign Office in several
    memoranda is the contention that the UN Genocide Convention of 1948 has
    no retroactive effect and therefore, does not apply to the Armenian
    Genocide. Mr. Robertson, a top expert in the field of international
    law, quickly quashes this "bad point," because "the rule against
    retroactivity applies to criminal charges, made against individuals,
    of offences which were not against the law at the time they were
    allegedly committed. Nobody is suggesting that criminal charges should
    be brought now against long dead individuals -- the question is whether
    the massacre of the Armenians is correctly described as 'genocide,'
    according to the definition adopted by the UN Convention in 1948."

    British Minister of State for Europe, Joyce Quin, was so incensed by
    her government's extremism in "genocide denial," and its allegation
    that there was no evidence of a Turkish intent to commit genocide
    that, in an April 13, 1999 memorandum to the Foreign Office, she
    pointed out that the issue of intent had never been examined by
    government officials.

    Mr. Robertson's report then relates the diplomatic scandal involving
    Thorda Abott-Watt, the British Ambassador to Armenia, who shamelessly
    questioned the veracity of the Armenian Genocide during a 2004
    interview in Yerevan. She stated that the evidence regarding the
    Armenian Genocide "was not sufficiently unequivocal" to be categorized
    as genocide under the UN Genocide Convention. In response to several
    columns I wrote at that time, thousands of readers worldwide inundated
    the British Foreign Office and the Armenian Foreign Ministry with
    letters of complaint. The Armenian government finally delivered a
    "Note verbale" (protest note) to the British government. Mr. Robertson
    uncovered an internal FCO memorandum written during that controversy,
    suggesting that the British government maintain its denialist policy,
    since Turkey "devotes major diplomatic resources to heading off any
    possible recognition. Turkey would react very strongly indeed to any
    suggestion of recognition by the UK."

    In his examination of the hundreds of pages of recently released
    documents, Mr. Robertson came across "only one obscure and dismissive
    reference" by the Foreign Office to the "one credible international
    inquiry" that classified the Armenian mass killings as Genocide. This
    unique study was carried out in 1985 by the British Special Rapporteur,
    Benjamin Whitaker, at the request of the UN Sub-Commission on the
    Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. To his
    chagrin, Mr. Robertson found out that the Foreign Office had issued
    a memorandum advising government ministers to dismiss the UN 1985
    report by stating that "since then, we are not aware of it being
    mentioned in any UN document or forum."

    Even after several European countries had recognized the Armenian
    Genocide, the Foreign Office continued to stubbornly cling to its
    denialist policy by advising Minister of State for Europe, Geoff Hoon,
    that "Turkey is neuralgic and defensive about the charge of genocide
    despite the fact that the events occurred at the time of the Ottoman
    Empire as opposed to modern day Turkey. There were many Turks who lost
    their lives in the war and there may also be an element of concern
    over compensation claims should they accept the charge of genocide.

    This defensiveness has meant that Turkey has historically stifled
    debate at home and devoted considerable diplomatic effort to dissuading
    any further recognition."

    Finally, in October 2007, when the U.S. House Foreign Affairs
    Committee adopted a resolution acknowledging the Armenian Genocide,
    the Foreign Office wrote an alarming memorandum, expressing concern
    that "the Armenian diaspora worldwide lobbying machine" would now
    "go into overdrive!"

    Mr. Robertson, based on his examination of the released internal
    documents written over a 10-year period, concludes that the advice
    given by the British Foreign Office to government ministers "reflects
    neither the law of genocide nor the demonstrable facts of the
    massacres in 1915-16, and has been calculated to mislead parliament
    into believing that there has been an assessment of evidence and an
    exercise of judgment on that evidence."

    Mr. Robertson further establishes that the "parliament has been
    routinely misinformed, by ministers who have recited FCO briefs
    without questioning their accuracy. HMG's Her Majesty's Government
    real and only policy has been to evade truthful answers to questions
    about the Armenian genocide, because the truth would discomfort the
    Turkish government!"

    In view of revelations of such misconduct and misrepresentation,
    the British Parliament should hold formal hearings and investigate
    the conduct of all officials who provided false and misleading
    information to Parliament members for well over a decade. Those found
    to be either negligent in carrying out their duties or complicit in
    providing outright falsehoods, should have charges filed against them
    or dismissed from their governmental posts..

    In addition, Mr. Robertson, a pre-eminent international jurist, should
    be asked to file legal action against the Turkish government in British
    courts, and more importantly, in the European Court of Human Rights.

    This extremely valuable report should be translated into several
    major languages and disseminated worldwide.
Working...
X