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WALES' ARMENIANS: STILL CAMPAIGNING FOR RECOGNITION OF THE GENOCIDE SUFFERED BY THEIR PEOPLE IN 1915
walesonline.co.uk
February 3, 2015 Tuesday 8:20 PM GMT
By Martin Shipton
Genocide is a highly emotive term - so much so that when a cross
commemorating the Armenian "genocide" was placed outside the Temple
of Peace in Cardiff a few years ago, it was soon smashed up.
In Turkey it remains a crime to use the term when describing the
events of 1915 that saw nearly 1.5m ethnic Armenians murdered.
Among many others, the Turkish Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan
Pamuk has faced prosecution after telling his country to admit to
what happened. But so far there is little sign of Turkey doing so.
In Wales, where there is a small but thriving Armenian community,
preparations are under way to mark the centenary. But community members
are disappointed by the lack of support shown for their cause by the
Welsh Government.
Historians have described what happened in Turkey 100 years ago as
the first full-scale ethnic cleansing of the 20th century.
Armenians were uprooted from their homes by the thousand, deported
to remote locations within Turkey and murdered.
The political scientist RJ Rummell has written: "Turkish leaders
decided to exterminate every Armenian in the country, whether a
front-line soldier or pregnant woman, famous professor or high bishop,
important businessman or ardent patriot. All two million of them.
Rummell has used the term "democide" to describe "the murder of any
person or people by their government, including genocide, politicide
and mass murder".
Of the Armenian massacres he wrote: "Democide had preceded the Young
Turks' rule and with their collapse at the end of World War I, the
successor Nationalist government carried out its own democide against
the Greeks and remaining or returning Armenians. From 1900 to 1923,
various Turkish regimes killed from 3.5 million to over 4.3m Armenians,
Greeks, Nestorians and other Christians."
Based on all the available evidence, Rummell estimates that the
Turks murdered between 300,000 and 2,686,000 Armenians - probably
1.4 million.
A report in the New York Times from November 1915 reported the
testimony of an American committee set up to investigate the
atrocities. It quotes an unnamed official representative of the
committee who went to a camp occupied by displaced Armenians saying:
"I have visited their encampment and a more pitiable site cannot be
imagined. They are, almost without exception, ragged, hungry and sick.
This is not surprising in view of the fact that they have been on the
road for nearly two months, with no change of clothing, no chance to
bathe, no shelter and little to eat. "I watched them one time when
their food was brought. Wild animals could not be worse. They rushed
upon the guards who carried the food and the guards beat them back
with clubs hitting hard enough to kill sometimes."
"To watch them one could hardly believe these people to be human
beings. As one walks through the camp, mothers offer their children
and beg you to take them. In fact, the Turks have been taking their
choice of these children and girls for slaves or worse. There are very
few men among them, as most of the men were killed on the road. Women
and children were also killed. The entire movement seems to be the
most thoroughly organised and effective massacre this country has
ever seen."
Many relatives of Cardiff businessman John Torosyan, a leading
member of the Welsh Armenian community, were murdered, including his
grandfather's twin.
He said: "More than 75% of Armenians were killed. At the time Britain
was at the forefront of calls for justice for this genocide. The word
'genocide' was in fact coined by a Jew, Raphael Lemkin, with the
Armenians uppermost in his mind.
"One hundred years on and how things have changed. The UK Government's
position is clear - they do not want to use the word genocide because
it would upset Turkey, a Nato ally.
"Nevertheless, 22 other countries have accepted the Armenian genocide
as fact, some of them being in Nato with no diplomatic or trade issues
with Turkey.
"Neither Israel nor Jewry in the UK including such commendable
organisations as the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust acknowledge the
Armenian genocide." Progress in Wales towards getting official
recognition of the genocide
Mr Torosyan said there had been progress in Wales towards getting
official recognition of the genocide: in 2004 a vote was taken by
Gwynedd council to recognise it, and last year a plaque was erected
at the council's offices in Caernarfon.
He said: "Prior to 2006 the Armenian community participated in the
Holocaust Memorial Day events in Cardiff. It was then a hit and miss
affair, where we were remembered in some years but not in others. The
last even we participated in actively was in 2010.
"In 2007 the National Assembly gave us some land at the Temple of
Peace and allowed the word 'genocide' to be used on the memorial. The
then Presiding Officer conducted the opening ceremony.
"We had two statements of opinion where a majority of AMs accepted the
reality of the Armenian genocide. The Church in Wales voted unanimously
to recognise April 24 as Armenian Genocide Day and special prayers
were written in Welsh and English.
"We currently have three memorials in Wales - at the Temple of Peace,
in Caernarfon and at St Deiniol's Church at Hawarden, Flintshire,
where Armenians gave a silver chalice, a silver Bible and a stained
glass window in recognition of help given by Britain at the time of
the first Armenian genocide in 1896.
"Soon we will be erecting a statue at St Davids Cathedral, the
spiritual centre of Welsh Christianity.
"Unfortunately we feel that with the exception of the Church in Wales,
the country's official institutions are now completely sidestepping
the Armenians' cause. The Welsh Government deems it a foreign policy
matter and not within the remit of a devolved administration. This
is a very convenient and easy solution, but it ignores the Armenian
community in Wales.
"We wrote to the First Minister last year, but only received an
acknowledgement. Our appeals for nine months that Holocaust Memorial
Day events this year should just mention the Armenian victims fell
on deaf ears. Unfortunately Cardiff is toeing the Foreign Office line."
Geoffrey Robertson QC, one of Britain's most distinguished human
rights lawyers, wrote a lengthy legal opinion six years ago condemning
the UK Government's unwillingness to describe the events of 1915 as
genocide. His conclusion said: "The truth is that throughout the life
of the present Labour Government and - so the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office (FCO) admits - throughout previous governments, there has been
no proper or candid appraisal of 1915 events condemned by Her Majesty's
Government (HMG) at the time and immediately afterwards in terms that
anticipate the modern definition of genocide and which were referred
to by the drafters of the Genocide Convention as a prime example of the
kind of atrocity that would be covered by this new international crime.
"HMG has consistently ... wrongly maintained both that the decision
is one for historians and that historians are divided on the subject,
ignoring the fact that the decision is one for legal judgement and
no reputable historian could possibly deny the central facts of the
deportations and the racial and religious motivations behind the
deaths of a significant proportion of the Armenian people."
Mr Robertson states that the "inevitable" conclusion is that the
treatment of the Armenians in 1915 answers to the description of
genocide. "Foreign policy is a matter reserved to the UK Government"
A Welsh Government spokesman said First Minister Carwyn Jones had
written a letter to Mr Torosyan dated September 1 last year, which
said: "I am writing in response to your letter of July 17 on behalf
of the Armenian community in Wales.
"Foreign policy is a matter reserved to the UK Government and one for
which the Welsh Government has no remit. However, the UK Government
has acknowledged the terrible suffering that was inflicted on the
Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th Century. The
crimes committed were rightly and robustly condemned by the British
Government of the day.
"While we remember the victims of the past, our priority today must
be to promote reconciliation between the peoples and governments of
Turkey and Armenia."
The spokesman issued a slightly amended statement to us, which said:
"Foreign policy is not devolved, but we condemn any persecution and
mass loss of life.
"The UK Government has acknowledged the terrible suffering that
was inflicted on the Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire in the
early 20th century and the crimes committed were rightly and robustly
condemned by the British Government of the day.
"The First Minister has paid homage to Armenian victims during
Holocaust Memorial commemorations in the past and there are a number
of memorials in place around Wales including one in the capital. But
while we remember the victims of the past, the priority today must
be to promote reconciliation between the peoples and governments of
Turkey and Armenia."
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/wales-armenians-still-campaigning-recognition-8574903
walesonline.co.uk
February 3, 2015 Tuesday 8:20 PM GMT
By Martin Shipton
Genocide is a highly emotive term - so much so that when a cross
commemorating the Armenian "genocide" was placed outside the Temple
of Peace in Cardiff a few years ago, it was soon smashed up.
In Turkey it remains a crime to use the term when describing the
events of 1915 that saw nearly 1.5m ethnic Armenians murdered.
Among many others, the Turkish Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan
Pamuk has faced prosecution after telling his country to admit to
what happened. But so far there is little sign of Turkey doing so.
In Wales, where there is a small but thriving Armenian community,
preparations are under way to mark the centenary. But community members
are disappointed by the lack of support shown for their cause by the
Welsh Government.
Historians have described what happened in Turkey 100 years ago as
the first full-scale ethnic cleansing of the 20th century.
Armenians were uprooted from their homes by the thousand, deported
to remote locations within Turkey and murdered.
The political scientist RJ Rummell has written: "Turkish leaders
decided to exterminate every Armenian in the country, whether a
front-line soldier or pregnant woman, famous professor or high bishop,
important businessman or ardent patriot. All two million of them.
Rummell has used the term "democide" to describe "the murder of any
person or people by their government, including genocide, politicide
and mass murder".
Of the Armenian massacres he wrote: "Democide had preceded the Young
Turks' rule and with their collapse at the end of World War I, the
successor Nationalist government carried out its own democide against
the Greeks and remaining or returning Armenians. From 1900 to 1923,
various Turkish regimes killed from 3.5 million to over 4.3m Armenians,
Greeks, Nestorians and other Christians."
Based on all the available evidence, Rummell estimates that the
Turks murdered between 300,000 and 2,686,000 Armenians - probably
1.4 million.
A report in the New York Times from November 1915 reported the
testimony of an American committee set up to investigate the
atrocities. It quotes an unnamed official representative of the
committee who went to a camp occupied by displaced Armenians saying:
"I have visited their encampment and a more pitiable site cannot be
imagined. They are, almost without exception, ragged, hungry and sick.
This is not surprising in view of the fact that they have been on the
road for nearly two months, with no change of clothing, no chance to
bathe, no shelter and little to eat. "I watched them one time when
their food was brought. Wild animals could not be worse. They rushed
upon the guards who carried the food and the guards beat them back
with clubs hitting hard enough to kill sometimes."
"To watch them one could hardly believe these people to be human
beings. As one walks through the camp, mothers offer their children
and beg you to take them. In fact, the Turks have been taking their
choice of these children and girls for slaves or worse. There are very
few men among them, as most of the men were killed on the road. Women
and children were also killed. The entire movement seems to be the
most thoroughly organised and effective massacre this country has
ever seen."
Many relatives of Cardiff businessman John Torosyan, a leading
member of the Welsh Armenian community, were murdered, including his
grandfather's twin.
He said: "More than 75% of Armenians were killed. At the time Britain
was at the forefront of calls for justice for this genocide. The word
'genocide' was in fact coined by a Jew, Raphael Lemkin, with the
Armenians uppermost in his mind.
"One hundred years on and how things have changed. The UK Government's
position is clear - they do not want to use the word genocide because
it would upset Turkey, a Nato ally.
"Nevertheless, 22 other countries have accepted the Armenian genocide
as fact, some of them being in Nato with no diplomatic or trade issues
with Turkey.
"Neither Israel nor Jewry in the UK including such commendable
organisations as the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust acknowledge the
Armenian genocide." Progress in Wales towards getting official
recognition of the genocide
Mr Torosyan said there had been progress in Wales towards getting
official recognition of the genocide: in 2004 a vote was taken by
Gwynedd council to recognise it, and last year a plaque was erected
at the council's offices in Caernarfon.
He said: "Prior to 2006 the Armenian community participated in the
Holocaust Memorial Day events in Cardiff. It was then a hit and miss
affair, where we were remembered in some years but not in others. The
last even we participated in actively was in 2010.
"In 2007 the National Assembly gave us some land at the Temple of
Peace and allowed the word 'genocide' to be used on the memorial. The
then Presiding Officer conducted the opening ceremony.
"We had two statements of opinion where a majority of AMs accepted the
reality of the Armenian genocide. The Church in Wales voted unanimously
to recognise April 24 as Armenian Genocide Day and special prayers
were written in Welsh and English.
"We currently have three memorials in Wales - at the Temple of Peace,
in Caernarfon and at St Deiniol's Church at Hawarden, Flintshire,
where Armenians gave a silver chalice, a silver Bible and a stained
glass window in recognition of help given by Britain at the time of
the first Armenian genocide in 1896.
"Soon we will be erecting a statue at St Davids Cathedral, the
spiritual centre of Welsh Christianity.
"Unfortunately we feel that with the exception of the Church in Wales,
the country's official institutions are now completely sidestepping
the Armenians' cause. The Welsh Government deems it a foreign policy
matter and not within the remit of a devolved administration. This
is a very convenient and easy solution, but it ignores the Armenian
community in Wales.
"We wrote to the First Minister last year, but only received an
acknowledgement. Our appeals for nine months that Holocaust Memorial
Day events this year should just mention the Armenian victims fell
on deaf ears. Unfortunately Cardiff is toeing the Foreign Office line."
Geoffrey Robertson QC, one of Britain's most distinguished human
rights lawyers, wrote a lengthy legal opinion six years ago condemning
the UK Government's unwillingness to describe the events of 1915 as
genocide. His conclusion said: "The truth is that throughout the life
of the present Labour Government and - so the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office (FCO) admits - throughout previous governments, there has been
no proper or candid appraisal of 1915 events condemned by Her Majesty's
Government (HMG) at the time and immediately afterwards in terms that
anticipate the modern definition of genocide and which were referred
to by the drafters of the Genocide Convention as a prime example of the
kind of atrocity that would be covered by this new international crime.
"HMG has consistently ... wrongly maintained both that the decision
is one for historians and that historians are divided on the subject,
ignoring the fact that the decision is one for legal judgement and
no reputable historian could possibly deny the central facts of the
deportations and the racial and religious motivations behind the
deaths of a significant proportion of the Armenian people."
Mr Robertson states that the "inevitable" conclusion is that the
treatment of the Armenians in 1915 answers to the description of
genocide. "Foreign policy is a matter reserved to the UK Government"
A Welsh Government spokesman said First Minister Carwyn Jones had
written a letter to Mr Torosyan dated September 1 last year, which
said: "I am writing in response to your letter of July 17 on behalf
of the Armenian community in Wales.
"Foreign policy is a matter reserved to the UK Government and one for
which the Welsh Government has no remit. However, the UK Government
has acknowledged the terrible suffering that was inflicted on the
Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th Century. The
crimes committed were rightly and robustly condemned by the British
Government of the day.
"While we remember the victims of the past, our priority today must
be to promote reconciliation between the peoples and governments of
Turkey and Armenia."
The spokesman issued a slightly amended statement to us, which said:
"Foreign policy is not devolved, but we condemn any persecution and
mass loss of life.
"The UK Government has acknowledged the terrible suffering that
was inflicted on the Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire in the
early 20th century and the crimes committed were rightly and robustly
condemned by the British Government of the day.
"The First Minister has paid homage to Armenian victims during
Holocaust Memorial commemorations in the past and there are a number
of memorials in place around Wales including one in the capital. But
while we remember the victims of the past, the priority today must
be to promote reconciliation between the peoples and governments of
Turkey and Armenia."
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/wales-armenians-still-campaigning-recognition-8574903