Row over plan for a Welsh memorial to Armenian dead

The Western Mail
October 19, 2007, Friday
Row over plan for a Welsh memorial to Armenian dead
Martin Shipton Western Mail

An international row has erupted over a decision to erect a memorial in Wales to an estimated one and a half million Armenians murdered by Ottoman Turks in 1915. A pillar made of pink stone and Welsh slate will be unveiled in the garden of the Temple of Peace in Cardiff on November 3.

But more than 200 messages protesting against the monument's erection have been sent by members of the Turkish community in Wales, elsewhere in Britain and from Turkey itself.

Stephen Thomas, director of the Welsh Centre for International Affairs, which is responsible for the memorial garden, this week met a delegation of Turks opposed to the monument.

In both Armenia and Turkey, the massacres of 1915 have been hugely emotive ever since they took place. At that time, Turkey was at war with the Allies and claimed that the Armenian population was supporting Turkey's Christian enemies. Soldiers and policemen carried out their government's orders to kill as many of the Armenians as they could.

Today Turkey denies that the killings amounted to genocide. But many international historians now refer to the atrocities as the first holocaust. Since Britain launched a Holocaust Day in 2001,
representatives from Armenia have been allowed to attendcommemorative ceremonies.

The huge controversy surrounding the killings is seen as a possible impediment to Turkey's application to join the EU. Last week the American House of Representatives passed a motion recognising the killings as genocide, prompting Turkey to recall its ambassador from Washington.

Members of the Armenian community in Wales have established links with the Welsh Centre for International Affairs in recent years, and a proposal to erect a monument in the centre's existing peace garden was accepted.

The monument, designed and crafted by stonemason Ieuan Rees of Betws, near Ammanford, carries an inscription inscription, in English, Welsh and Armenian, which reads, "In memory of the victims of the Armenian genocide".

A spokesman for the Armenian community in Wales said, "There is a huge amount of evidence that the genocide took place, and we think it is extremely unfortunate that Turkey still wants to deny what happened. Our memorial has now become a big issue in the press in Turkey, where people are getting very upset. We have nothing against Turkey today, and hope that one day they will come to terms with this aspect of their and our history."

But Hal Savas, a member of the five-man delegation from the Committee for the Protection of Turkish Rights which visited Mr Thomas yesterday, said, "The allegation of genocide is entirely unproven. The Turkish community will be very upset if the monument is put up. "Mr Thomas said he was happy to meet the delegation and hear their views, some of which he fully understood. But he said his organisation would not be able to support the suggestion to erect a similar memorial to Turks killed by Armenians. "What happened to the Armenians was of a scale that was different to what happened to anyone else."

Article from http://armenian-genocide.info/

The Federation of Turkish Associations UK has slammed the move in a letter to the Archbishop of Wales claiming there is no consensus among historians that the events of 1915 constituted genocide.

The Turkish Federation got wind of plans to erect the monument after pamphlets were distributed by Armenian activists at the Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth.

The literature claimed the monument will be unveiled outside the headquarters of the Welsh Centre for International Affairs in Cardiff next month.

The Director of the Welsh Centre for International Affairs, Stephen Thomas, confirmed that a monument would be unveiled in the building's Garden of Peace but denied that the event is being organised by the WCIA.

He said: "It's not us as an organisation doing it, it's representatives of the Armenian people in Britain. It's within our garden but it's more of a ceremony for Armenians in Wales and the UK as a whole."

However Mr Thomas did admit that the purpose of the monument was to "commemorate the Armenian genocide" and confirmed that the word "genocide" would definitely be used.

He has agreed to hold a meeting with members of the Union of British Turks to discuss the decision, he claims.President of the Turkish Federation UK, Şener Sağlam, said:

"There is a legitimate historic controversy concerning the interpretation of the events in question.

A good number of well-respected scholars recognise that the deportation decision in 1915 was taken as a security measure to stop the Armenians from cooperating with the foreign forces invading Anatolia."

He added: "Genocide is a crime whose elements are strictly defined and codified by UN convention. Armenian allegations do not fit those elements and so far the Armenians have
failed to submit credible supportive evidence."