Desmond Fernandes' new book The Armenian, Assyrian, Greek, Kurdish and Greek Cypriot Genocides and the Politics of Denialism'.

Armenian Solidarity with the Victims of All Genocides

Nor Serount Cultural Association

Seyfo Centre

Centre of Halabja against the Anfalisation and Genocide of Kurdish People(C.H.A.K.)

invite you to

A Discussion of the central themes and findings of

Desmond Fernandes' new book

'The Armenian, Assyrian, Greek, Kurdish and Greek Cypriot Genocides and the Politics of Denialism'.

[Apec Press, Stockholm - 978-91-86139-01-8]

Featured speakers include:

Desmond Fernandes

Khatchatur Pilikian [Author of Refuting Terrorism - Seven Epistles >From Diaspora, The Spectre of Genocide as Collateral Damage is Haunting the World and UNESCO Laureates: Nazim Hikmet & Aram Khatchaturian - Garod Books of the Gomidas Institute].

Nick Kounoupias [Co-Ordinator of the Lobby for Cyprus]

Kasim Agpak

Sponsor: David Drew, MP.

Venue: The Grand Committee Room, The House of Commons, Westminster.

Monday 21st July 2008.

Time: 6-7.15 pm.

Free Entry.

Reviews:

'Desmond Fernandes examines important and often ignored questions of genocide where clear evidence exists but is still denied. The difficulty in acknowledging genocide, not only in Turkey, but internationally, is also surveyed and the conclusion leaves one in no doubt that the international community continues to assist and support the Turkish government's campaign of denial. In contrast to the international order, Desmond uses the 'G-word' as a person who has read the history, and does not choose to avoid it like a politician, afraid of controversies' - Gurgîn Bakircioglu, Editor of Beyan.net and Vice-Chair of the Kurdish Student and Academic Association (KSAF).

'Turkey is a lynch pin in the politics of the Middle East, Europe and the United States. The country's history of hyperactivity in terms of nationalism and secularism is clearly revealed in this scholarly study. The research documents genocidal actions towards religious, cultural and linguistic groups since the end of the Ottoman Empire. Woven through Desmond Fernandes' narrative is the contradiction inherent in the democratic governance of the present state and the level of extreme violence that can still be inflicted on ordinary Turkish people. Not only experts in Turkish affairs, but also activists will find in this volume invaluable information to enrich their understanding of Turkey's role in the so-called 'global war on terror'' - Julia Kathleen Davidson, Scotland Against Criminalising Communities.

'This book shows, with the help of massive evidence and without any possible doubt, that the Turkish state (and its forerunner, the Ottoman Empire) has been committing genocide against the groups mentioned in the title of the book, at least since 1894, and continues to commit genocide even today, in 2008, within the meaning of each of the five types of genocidal act, today most brutally against the Kurds. Turkey is even today guilty of crimes against humanity … This is a reference book that cannot be surpassed easily (if at all). The book is filled with minute detail in its documentation and presentation and has an incredible number of up-to-date references. The comparative aspect, documenting and comparing several genocides, historically and today, is novel ...

'An important part of the book gives an invaluable resource to concerned politicians, lawyers, conflict resolution analysts, peace campaigners, parliamentarians and academics, regardless of their ethnic background. This is a compact presentation of key positional statements and perspectives on the genocide by the leading Kurdish parties, and several key Turkish ones. These quotes, some quite difficult to get hold of, have hardly ever been mentioned or used in mainstream US-UK genocide debates [in English]. For these representative Kurdish groups genocide is a key issue that they have explicitly been raising for years ...

'Issues around the continuing broken promises in relation to all human rights, be these civil and political or economic, social and cultural (e.g. the right to self-determination, a fair trial or the freedom of speech and association) and an analysis of the fact that other (mostly big western) countries have not only allowed the crimes against humanity but have also very often been and are today complicit in the genocides fill much of the book, again, with massive documentation ...

'The painstakingly detailed, objective and accurate description in itself forms 'only' a background for other path-breaking aspects of this book. One reason for writing a book like this has been voiced by Halil Berktay, co-ordinator of the History Department at Sabanci University, Turkey. He is quoted by Desmond Fernandes as writing: 'The question of what happened in 1915-1916 is not a mystery, it's not like we know just 5 percent, so the question is not finding more evidence. The question is liberating scholarship from the nationalist taboos' (emphasis added). 'There may be differing interpretations of genocide - how and why the Armenian Genocide happened. To deny its factual and moral reality as genocide is not to engage in scholarship but in propaganda and efforts to absolve the perpetrator, blame the victims, and erase the ethical meaning of this history'...

'Turkey's denial of documented facts, the Turkish government's threats towards and imprisonment of people who have raised the issue of the genocides, and the trouble Turkey is going into in order to prevent the issues around genocide from getting to high-level courts is as well known as it is difficult for outsiders to understand. This denial has to be analysed from a multidisciplinary point of view, and this is what Desmond Fernandes has also set out to do …

'This book represents the cutting edge. Not only because of its amazing research and documentation, the sharp analyses, the absolute intellectual honesty. It is a necessary book. It is horrifying to read, and makes one feel ashamed and guilty of belonging to the same human race as those who have been and ARE today committing the atrocities described in the book. But this is also cutting edge in Del Valle's terms because it is a risky undertaking to publish this book ... Perpetrators are more often shooting the messenger than listening to the message. The least you as a reader can do is to start screaming, and to finally demand international action to stop these crimes against humanity' – Dr. Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, University of Roskilde, Department of Languages and Culture, Denmark, and Abo Akademi University, Department of Education, Vasa, Finland [author of Linguistic Genocide in Education - or Worldwide Diversity and Human Rights? Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ & London, UK] – Excerpted from the Foreword to the book

Desmond Fernandes is a policy analyst and former Senior Lecturer in Human Geography and Genocide Studies at De Montfort University. He has published widely in a number of journals and is author of The Kurdish and Armenian Genocides: From Censorship and Denial to Recognition? (2007, Apec, Stockholm) and co-author of Genozid an den Kurden in der Türkei? - Verfolgung, Krieg und Zerstörung der ethnischen Identität (2001, Medico International, Frankfurt). His most recent co-authored article appears in the current issue of Genocide Studies and Prevention, the journal of the International Association of Genocide Scholars.

All who are interested in participating in Genocide lobbying are most welcome for an informal discussion before the meeting eg at 3.45 in the cafe inside parliament (in central lobby)

For further details, please contact Eilian Williams on: 07718982732 and/or 07876561398, or alternatively: eilian@nant.wanadoo.co.uk. The book can shortly be purchased securely online at www.techybits.net/desfernandes

Armenian Solidarity with the Victims of All Genocides

Seyfo Centre

Centre of Halabja against Anfalization and Genocide of Kurdish people

Dear Friends,

We extend a warm invitation to you to a meeting on The Genocides of Iraq at 6.00 p.m. in Committee Room 5 on , tomorrow,monday14th July. (full details below)

We have gathered eye-witnesses and victims of the Anfal Genocide of the Kurds of 1987-88 who will recount their experiences. The Prime Minister of Iraqi Kurdistan has asked the parliaments of the world to give their support to the findings of the Iraqi Supreme Court which in 2007 has deemed this a crime of Genocide. The Iraqi parliament has recognized the finding of the Supreme Court.

We ask you to request your MP to sign the EDM on the Anfal by Bob Spink (number 1805)

World-wide Recognition will help turn a new page in Iraq, assist the healing process and help us to look forward. We believe that this recognition should be robustly proclaimed making it impossible for future generations to be deceived as to the truth of this Genocide. We see from the Armenian example that perpetrators of Genocide will continually try to cover up their crimes and to convince the world that such atrocities did not happen.

Armenians and Kurds have as much to gain by co-operation on these issues. The report on last tuesday's House of Commons Conference on "Kurdish evidence for the Armenian Genocide" will be available later on today.It was unanimously decided to write to the Kurdish Regional government to ask for recognition of the 1915 Genocide.

Yours sincerely

Eilian Williams

---

EDM 1805

GENOCIDE AGAINST THE KURDISH PEOPLE

17.06.2008

Spink, Bob

That this House notes that the Supreme Criminal Court of Iraq has reached its verdict on the Anfal Campaign, declaring it to be a mass killing, a genocide, against the Kurdish people; and calls on the international community to respect the Court's decision and recognise the mass killing of Kurds as genocide.

---

The Genocides of Iraq

in Committee Room 5 at 6.00 p.m. on Monday, 14th July

The Anfal Genocide recounted by the Victims

(relevant EDM number 1805)

Speakers:

Shorsh Haji

Adnan Kochar

Muslih Nerwaey

Dr. Kamaran Sallaiy

Also an address on the 75th anniversary of:

The Simele Massacre of the Assyrians (relevant EDM 1925

Armenian Solidarity with the Victims of All Genocides

Tel: 07718982732

Centre of Halabja against the Anfalization of Kurdish People (C.H.A.K.)

Nor Serount Cultural Association

Seyfo Centre

A warm invitation to two imprtant meetings next week: We stress the importance of your attendance at these meetings. Evidence will be revealed of how the government has been caught misleading parliament on the genocide

---

1 On tuesday, 8th july at 2.00 p.m. in room P of Portcullis House (which houses the offices of Members of Parliament)

"Evidence from Kurdish sources on the 1915 Genocide"

in Room P of Portcullis House, (Westminster)Bridge St

(which houses the offices of Members of Parliament)

at 2.00 p.m. on tuesday, 8th july

The speakers: eminent Kurdish historian Prof Kamal Mazhar Ahmad

Kurdish writer Rebwar Fatah .

The meeting is sponsored and chaired by David Drew MP

Portcullis House is on Victoria Embankment/Bridge Street corner next to Westminster tube station(facing parliament)

If you are planning to attend, RSVP if possible to eilian@nant.wanadoo.co.uk asap

---

2

The Lausanne Treaty of 1923.

Were the Armenians , Assyrians and Kurds betrayed?

On wednesday, 9th july at 6.15 p.m.

in Room 3A of the House of Lords

Speakers:

Dr Kemal Miredali ( Kurdish writer)

Ms Soma Mallzada (Researcher for C.H.A.K.)

There will be the opportunity for questions and a discussion to consider the Treaty's validity in relation to these three nations which were not involved in its signing.

The meeting is sponsored and chaired by Lord Rea

RSVP if possible to eilian@nant.wanadoo.co.uk

Tel: 07718982732

----- Original Message -----

To those interesrted in an Armenian-Kurdish-Assyrian dialogue

A warm invitation from:

Armenian Solidarity with the Victims of All Genocides Tel: 07718982732

Centre for Halabja against the Anfalisation of Kurdistan

Nor Serount Cultural Association

Seyfo Centre

"Evidence from Kurdish sources on the 1915 Genocide"

( The new co-operation between Armenian, Assyrian and Kurdish groups has facilitated this event,)

in Room P of Portcullis House (whish houses the offices of Members of Parliament) at 2.00 p.m. on tuesday, 8th july

The speakers: w eminent Kurdish historian Prof Kamal Mazhar Ahmad and eminent Kurdish writer Rebwar Fatah .

The meeting is sponsored and chaired by David Drew MP

Seating is limited, and an early reply to this invitation is advised.

Portcullis House is on Victoria Embankment/Bridge Street corner next to Westminster tube station(facing parliament)

If you are planning to attend, RSVP to eilian@nant.wanadoo.co.uk asap

---

Three new Genocide Motions in the UK parliament

This new collaboration has resulted in three new motions in Parliament. We urge Armenians, Assyrians , Kurds and our British friends to contact their MPs, asking them to sign all three Motions

GENOCIDE AGAINST THE ASSYRIAN AND ARMENIAN PEOPLE number 1806

Spink, Bob

That this House urges the Government to recognise formally the genocide of Assyrians and Armenians under the Young Turk regime in Ottoman Turkey during 1915 to 1923; and welcomes the co-operation between groups representing the Armenian and Assyrian peoples, joined also by groups representing the Kurdish people who have also suffered genocide, in jointly working to encourage the whole international community to recognise the atrocities perpetrated against their respective peoples as genocide.

Also GENOCIDE AGAINST THE KURDISH PEOPLE 1805 and IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM GENOCIDE EXHIBITION 1807

----- Original Message -----

Subject: to be sent to MPs

Armenia Solidarity-Nor Serount Cultural Association Press Release

c/o The Temple of Peace, Cathays Park, Cardiff

eilian@nant.wanadoo.co. 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 with similar letters. e-mail address : gordonbrownmp@parliament.uk-(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

---

----- Original Message -----

Subject: Genocide Day Conference

Press release

Armenia Solidarity

Nor Serount Cultural Association

Unprecedented collaboration between Armenians, Assyrians and Kurds on Genocide day in the UK parliament, London.

(Establishment of a Permanent People's Commission on 'Reconciliation after the Anatolian Genocide' proposed)

The irresistible ethical arguments for the recognition of the Anatolian Genocides as the only ground for Reconciliation between the victim groups and the Turkish state, was articulated by scholars on Genocide Day in the House of Commons, London, organised by Armenia Solidarity & Nor Serount Cultural Association.

Sabri Atman of the Seyfo Centre delivered a passionate interpretation of the Assyrian trauma at the continuing denial of the Genocide of their nation. Sara Aziz, also of the Seyfo Centre, put the case for the criminal penalisation of Turkey under international Law. Ruth Barnett expounded on the psychological effects of Genocide denial illustrating the complexities of traumatisation.

Gregory Topalian, concentrating on the Armenian experience, addressed the issue of possibilities of reconciliation, based on recognition alone, and how some historians may adversely affect this process. Desmond Fernandes showed that Genocide still continues in Turkey, and that Denial owes much to US, Israeli and UK realpolitik. Professor Khatchatur Pilikian showed in his address, 'A bird’s eye view on the phenomena of Genocide and the Armenian experience of it', that Genocidal intent of the Turkish state can be traced back to 1878.

Some of the speakers emphasised the universal significance of Genocide Day, reflecting the increasing adoption of the 24th April as a day to dwell on all Genocides. Professor Pilikian, in this vein, claimed that the annual deaths from hunger of 14.6 million constituted 'the unmentioned Genocide'.

The organiser proposed the establishment of a Permanent People's Commission (to be based in London in co-operation with UK politicians) on the Consequences of the Genocides perpetrated by the Turkish State, to focus on the search for Reconciliation based on truth and honesty. He also reminded the conference of the brutal murder of three Christians in Malatya almost a year to the day, as a reminder that Christians, as well as other minorities, are still living under a sustained threat in Turkey.

Messages of support were sent from The Halabja Centre London; The Kurdish Museum, London; The Foundation For The Kurdish Library and Museum, Stockholm; Ms Rosie Malek Yonan, Los Angeles; Mr Ragip Zarokulu, Istanbul; Dr Tessa Hofmann, Berlin; Canon Andrew White, Baghdad; Barzoo Eliassi, Kurdish Ph.D. Student, The Department of Social Sciences, Mid-Sweden University; Martin Blecher, member of the Israel Group in Sweden; Sukran Kavak, a Kurdish journalist, Sweden; Shoresh Rahem, International Affairs for the Kurdistan Student Association and Kurdistan Youth Freedom Organization; Hediye Guzel, Press secretary for the Left wing party, Sweden; Gurgin Bakircioglu, Stockholm; Haydar Isik, Germany, and Greeks from across the world.

The meeting was chaired by Mr Andrew George MP, Mr Daniel Rogerson MP, both Members of Parliament for parts of Cornwall.

It was also supported by Mr John Marks, on behalf of Baroness Cox, Rev Stuart Windsor, of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Mr Andrew Stonestreet of the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East and The Halabja Centre, London.

Two Ministers at the Foreign Office, the Rt Hon. Jim Murphy MP (minister For Europe) and Lord Maloch-Brown, sent their apologies to the conference for their unavoidable absences. The book by Taner Akcam, 'A Shameful Act' was given to Mr Andrew George to be presented to the Minister for Europe. This was a gift from The Armenian-Turkish Studies Group of London.

Attendees were encouraged to buy the book by Kemal Yalcin, 'You Rejoice My Heart' (Taderon Press). The following quote from Mr Yalcin was read to illustrate the possibilities ahead:

'I bow to the memory of the Armenians and Assyrians who lost their lives on the road of deportation through planned killings. That is the greatest pain of our century, the stigma on the face of humanity. Your pain is my pain. As a Turkish writer, I beg forgiveness from you and mankind ...'

eilian@nantperis.wanadoo.co.uk

norserount@btconnect.com

(Speeches delivered at the conference will be published shortly)

EXCERPTS OF MESSAGES:

Canon Andrew White - President of the FRRME:

Blessings from Baghdad

I am so sorry that I have been unable to be with you today for this most important meeting. It is so important as in our life time there has still been genocide. The Genocide of the Armenians and Assyrians has never even been recognised. So many of the families of my people here in Iraq fled to Iraq to find sanctuary in the violence and Genocide of the Ottoman Empire. Both Assyrians and Armenians were killed in their masses.

I have dedicated my life to the work of reconciliation. Forgiveness is indeed the only thing that will prevent the pain of the past from determining the future, but to have forgiveness and reconciliation you must have recognition of the evil deeds of the past. We have had clear recognition of the evil past of Germany and even the Rwanda’s but Turkey still refuses to acknowledge past massacres of the Armenians and the Assyrians. To me that is totally unacceptable and unforgivable. They want to join the EU; people say how a can a Muslim nation be part of the EU. I have absolutely no problem with that but I do have a huge problem with the nation of Turkey not recognising the genocide of it past.

My prayer is that this horror will not indeed be committed again, thank you all for taking this most important issue so seriously.

Ragip Zarokulu of the Human Rights Association, Istanbul Branch:

Today, 24th of April, is worldwide recognised as the date signifying the Armenian Genocide. Only in Turkey it indicates a taboo. The Turkish state mobilises all its resources to deny the meaning of this date. At diplomatic platforms Turkish officials and their advocates claim that they recognise the “big tragedy” and they only object to its being named as a “Genocide”. That’s not true. At every occasion in Turkey not only the Armenian Genocide, but also the great agony of the Armenian people is denied and attempts are made to justify the genocide.

It was only last month that during a Symposium on the Armenian-Turkish relations the denialist official theses were voiced one after another, offending the Armenians in Turkey and elsewhere and insulting the memory of their grandparents. Lies were told in the name of “science”, like “Armenians have always sold their masters”, “deportation was a means of crisis management”, “death toll of deportation is comparable to the death toll of flu epidemic in England that time”, “there is no other people as noble as the Turkish nation in the world, it is impossible for them to commit a genocide”, and many more, humiliating a people who was one of the most advanced in science, art, literature, and in all other aspects.

Denial is a constituant part of the genocide itself and results in the continuation of the genocide. Denial of genocide is a human rights violation in itself. It deprives individuals the right to mourn for their ancestors, for the ethnic cleansing of a nation, the annihilation of people of all ages, all professions, all social sections, women, men, children, babies, grandparents alike just because they were Armenians regardless of their political background or conviction. Perhaps the most important of all, it is the refusal of making a solemn, formal commitment and say “NEVER AGAIN”.

Turkey has made hardly any progress in the field of co-existence, democracy, human rights and putting an end to militarism since the time of the Union and Progress Committee. Annihilation and denial had been and continues today to be the only means to solve the problem. Villages evacuated and put on fire and forced displacements are still the manifestation of the same habit of “social engineering”. There has always been bloodshed in the homeland of Armenians after 1915. Unsolved murders, disappearances under custody, rapes and arrests en masse during the 1990’s were no surprise, given the ongoing state tradition lacking any culture of repentance for past crimes against humanity.

Similarly the removal of a public prosecutor and banning him from profession just for taking the courage to mention an accusation against the military, a very recent incident, is the manifestation of an old habit of punishing anybody who dares to voice any objection to the army. And today’s ongoing military build up of some 250,000 troops in the southeast of Turkey is the proof of a mindset who is unable to develop any solution to the Kurdish question other than armed suppresion.

Turkey will not be able to take even one step forward without putting an end to the continuity of the Progress and Union manner of ruling. No human rights violation can be stopped in Turkey and there will be no hope of breaking the vicious circle of Kurdish uprisings and their bloody suppression unless the Turkish state agree to create an environment where public homage is paid to genocide victims, where the sufferings of their grandchildren is shared and the genocide is recognised.

Today we, as the human rights defenders, would like to address all Armenians in Turkey and elsewhere in the world and tell them “we want to share the pain in your hearts and bow down before the memory of your lost ones. They are also our losses. Our struggle for human rights in Turkey, is at the same time our mourning for our common losses and a homage paid to the genocide victims”.

Rosie Malek-Yonan, Author of The Crimson Field and Board of Advisor at Seyfo Center:

The absence of the negotiation of world peace is the single greatest threat to humanity and the future of a violent-free world.

In order to achieve freedom from war, we must examine the actions that continually create the cycle of anger and hatred as the catalyst to any conflict between nations.

World peace will always remain a distant thought when reconciliation in the aftermath of genocide is not at the forefront of all discussions of human rights violations relative to those crimes.

When we perpetually allow the practice of genocide and holocaust and consent to the denial of such actions to linger for decades as in the case of the Assyrian, Armenian and Pontic Greek Genocide, we are in essence consenting to denial as a compromise. Denial is not compromise.

To the survivors and the children and grandchildren of the survivors of the Assyrian, Armenian, and Pontic Greek Genocide of 1914-1918 in Ottoman Turkey and northwestern Iran, there is no valid justification for the renunciation of facts.

With the acknowledgement of past and present genocides we can slowly begin to mend the broken bridges that may ultimately lead the human race to eradicate bloodshed and violence among nations of this world. But so long as we turn a blind-eye to these killings, we are sanctioning the ongoing slaughter such as today’s modern-day Assyrian Genocide occurring in Iraq since the beginning of the 2003 war.

A formal pronouncement by the Turkish government of the Assyrian, Armenian, and Pontic Greek Genocide will bring closure to not only the survivors of the genocide, but also to the Turkish people in that the nearly century-old hatred can begin to give way to human solidarity. Anything short of that will surely continue to threaten all hope of peace.

Dr Tessa Hofmann, Chairperson of the Working Group Recognition – Against Genocide, for International Understanding (AGA):

The Armenian Genocide Day Conference poses a demanding and challenging aim. The

recognition of historic facts – Truth – and of justice is the precondition of any reconciliation

and lasting peace, if the ultimate crime of genocide was committed. The comparative study of genocides of the 20th and 21st centuries reveals that again and again survivors and their

descendents need legal justice in order to re-establish trust and the capability to come to terms with their fate.

The case of the Ottoman genocide against 3.5 million Christian citizens is unique in the

duration and obstinacy, displayed by official Turkey in the refusal to acknowledge the states

crimes which were committed during the last decade of Ottoman rule. The refusal to come to

terms with this past and to take responsibility for the murder and destruction of Non-Muslim

ethnic groups in the process of building a Turkish nation-state have long ago turned into

severe obstacles for democratization and regional stability in international relations. To help

Turkey to overcome her self-imposed deadlock means the contrary of a policy of eye-closing

and palliation. It means the exploration of the roots of nowadays hate towards ethnic and

religious minorities.

We hope that the Conference will be able to explain the necessity of such standards to the

political decision-makers in the United Kingdom and thus will immediately contribute both to justice and reconciliation.

Foundation For The Kurdish Library and Museum in Stockholm, Sweden:

The new Turkish Republic which has been rebuilt on the remnants of the Ottoman Empire, has to confess once all the history of Turkish legacy of their ancestor. It is not possible for Turkey to accept parts of Turkish history and reject the other historical occurrences.

The genocide of Armenians is a historical fact and whole world knows who committed these
crimes. It is time once for all for Turkey, for the candidate of EU membership, to confess all events in Turkey's and Turks history. This is necessary for making the peace and democratic progress secured in the whole region and in the entire world.

Barzoo Eliassi, Kurdish Ph.D. student at the Department of Social Sciences of Mid-Sweden University:

The transition from the multicultural Millet system of the Ottoman Empire to the Republic of Turkey created an ocean of killing in the name of a threatened Turkish nation. It is not an exaggeration to compare the Nazi extermination of the Jews with the systematic Turkish mass murder, or aptly put, the genocide against the Armenians during the First World War. The Turkish governments have been denying this event and labelled it as a conspiracy against the existence of the Turkish state. Any demand on raising and debating this issue of genocide and atrocities against the Armenians is seen as an external threat that attempts to undermine the political authority of the Turks over the Turkish history. History books in Turkey see surely this genocide in other terms and legitimatize it in the name of the Turkish nation and its right to existence and its right to use any means to protect itself from internal and external “threats”. Using any means included also the genocide of the Armenians, an evil crime that Turkish history has to pay back to its victims through recognition.

Martin Blecher, member of the Israel Group in Sweden:

Today our thoughts go to the one and half million that were killed in Ottoman Empire in 1915-1916. Our thoughts also go to the children and grandchildren of the survivors who have witnessed the horror by survivors passing their story along. The Jewish people and our Armenian brothers have experienced one Holocaust upon us ... We deeply sympathize with the Armenian nation and encourage them to continue their search for national justice. It is our responsibility to forget in order to live in the present and move along the path that leads to peace. It is also our responsibility not to forget and to tell the story that once were told to us.

Sukran Kavak, a Kurdish journalist in Sweden:

The legal definition of genocide was found in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. But the crimes of genocide were committed much earlier then this legal definition. The world failed to stop the genocide of the Armenians during and after the First World War by the Ottoman Empire. To honour the hundreds of thousands of victims and their relatives, the crimes against the Armenians must be acknowledged as genocide by the world. To not recognize this is a further crime and insult against the victims, the survivors and the whole Armenian people.

Shoresh Rahem, International Affairs for the Kurdistan Student Association and Kurdistan Youth Freedom Organization:

When I came to Sweden at the age of eight, I learnt about Kurdish history through my family. The Swedish history classes were limited to the European countries and those who Europe had relations with. Few people knew that there was a Kurdish genocide in Iraq during 1980's. Neither did we study that more than one million Armenians were victims of genocide in Turkey. There is nothing we can do today to get back the victims of the genocide. But we must inform and acknowledge the crimes so that it will not be repeated, but also to honor the survivors to the victims that they are not forgotten. To know that a crime of genocide has been committed but to deny it is another serious crime. Therefore, I see as my obligation to the Kurds and to our friends, the Armenians, not to keep quiet about the crimes of genocide as my teachers and the politicians did when I grew up.

Hediye Guzel – Press secretary, Left wing party, Kurdish origin:

Reconciliation must be the leading star, when discussing the Armenian genocide. This awful genocide has also affected the Assyrians/Syrians and Chaldeans in the Ottoman Empire. But reconciliation must be founded on truth, not on manipulation of truth. Without true and honest historical research and approaches, we will never reach this goal. We must not hesitate to use the right words about happened in the Ottoman Empire 1915 and the following years. We cannot be afraid of truth! And we cannot deny or hesitate as the Turkish republic does.

The genocide in the Ottoman Empire is a trauma not only for the Armenians, the Assyrians/ Syrians and the Chaldeans, it is also a trauma for the Turkish people. Nationalist and chauvinist institutions and forces in Turkish society which deny the genocide prevent and punish people who recognize the genocide of 1915. They stop the development of reconciliation and peace of a whole society. With a recognition of what happened in 1915 in the Ottoman Empire, hatred and bitterness can disappear and reconciliation can be reached.

As long as the Turkish state denies the genocide of 1915 it will be caught in the past. We have to look at the future and leave the past. To reach peace and harmony between people, it is necessary to see the truth and condemn the genocide.

Haydar Isik, Germany:

I am an Alevi Kurd! Where we lived there were no mosques. In my childhood I admired the ruins of the Armenian churches in the area. Though their walls had crumbled the domes supported by the columns still stood. The marvelous pictures painted on them could still be seen. My birth city was called 'Kizilkilise' or 'Red Church' in the Kurdish language [it probably had a Syriac or Armenian name before]. But later like other Kurdish names the Kizilkilise was changed to 'Nazimiye' by the Turkish government.

My childhood was affected by two important historical events. One was the Dersim massacre of the Kurds in 1937/38 , when 70,000 of them were killed by the Turkish army which still is very fresh and sorrowful in my mind. The other was the Armenian Genocide, of 1915-16 by the Turks which exterminated one and half million Armenians and a half million Assyrians. During the winter months I often heard about the sorrowful fate of our Armenian neighbors and it made me cry.

To achieve racial supremacy in Anatolia, the Turkish regime wiped out first the Armenians and Assyrians and then the Kurds. General Kazim Karabekir, who had participated in the killing of the Armenians and Assyrians once had said: 'le yandan zo zo lari, doenuence de lo lo larin isini bitirecegiz.' 'We will exterminate the Armenians with an invasion to the east, on our way back we will do the same with the Kurds.'

It was always the strategy of the Turks to kill or drive out the country first the Christian Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks to turn the country into an Islamic nation, then to carry out similar genocide and ethnocide against the Kurds. To accomplish this Turkish rulers promoted hatred and incited one people against the other ... The Kurdish feudal chieftains became instrumental in carrying out these Turkish policies.

The Turkish regime used sunni tribes in Northern Kurdistan who lived side by side with the Armenians and Assyrians in Mesopotamia to implement its policies. The Aschirets (tribe) which lived in Van, Urfa, Agri; Mus and Bingöl were known as Hasenen, Cibran, Zirkan, Sipkan, Zilan, Milan etc.. These Aschirets were a minority of the Kurds. The Aleviti Kurds, the yezidis and the rest of the sunni Kurds provided no assistance to the Turks.

A minority of Kurds was used to kill Christians to prove their loyalty to Turkey and Islam. Today's Kurds see the massacre of the Armenians [and Assyrians] as a shame on Kurds. I am ashamed that Kurds were involved in killing their neighbors in such barbarous manners.

In the shadow of the 1ST world war, during the rule of Pascha Enver Talat and Cemal, Turks organized the Christian pogrom in Anatolia and Mesopotamia with the approval and knowledge of Germany. It was the first genocide in human history that was carefully planned and carried out. However one needs to see the other side of the coin also. The rag-tag brigades, recruited by Turkey out of 36 Kurdish tribes, which were used to massacre the Christian were also incited against the Alevi and the yezidie (moslem) Kurds.

The regiments were formed exclusively out of the sunni tribes in Northern kurdistan which means, the young Turkish regime (Ittihat Terakki) intentions were to incite one section of the Kurds against the other according to the principle of 'divide and conquer'. Consequently animosities between Sunni and Alevi Kurds continues to this day.

The Hamidiyeh regiments was also used against the Kurds to undermine the Kurdish aspirations for independence. Their Attacks against the Armenians, Assyrians or Kurds remain a blemish in the history of the Kurds. Nothing holds back the Kurdish descent bandits who attacked Armenian villages yesterday and killed countless people from killing their own. One has to ask: is it just for anyone to kill other human beings because someone orders them to do so?

Yes, the story of humanity is full of such events. About 50 years ago, German fascism massacred the Jews in industrial fashion. They believed that their victims deserved to die! ...

Now Turkey is using Kurds to fight their compatriots. Like the Hamidiyeh brigades of the past which killed 100,000 of their own people, Kurdish gangs have been equipped to fight against the Kurdish liberation movement, which fights for liberty and well-being being of the Kurds living in the mountains.

The same mentality which massacred the Armenians and the Assyrians yesterday, is responsible for the killing of the Kurds today. The Kurds in Dersim provided protection for their Armenian neighbors despite pressure from the Turks, however such kindness cost them dearly when Turks massacred them in 1937/38, partly for that reason.

Turkey is a country of various people, Turks, Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians and other minorities. Although Turkey has signed almost all the international treaties including: The 'General Declaration of the Human Rights', the 'European Convention of Human Rights', the 'CSCE treaty' , which promises Equal Rights, Self-determination, and rights of minorities to teach their mother tongue, Turkey has denied such liberties to its non-Turk[ish] citizens, yet it wants to join the European Union.

The Armenians were exterminated by the policy of Turkey in Anatolia. We, the Kurds would like to live peacefully together with our neighbors, Armenians, Assyrians and Turks in a country, where the sound of the church-bells and the call of the Muezzin can be heard side by side. We are not any more the Kurds who were used as tool by Turkey to exterminate their Christian neighbors. We are ashamed and would like to make amend and do well - From: 'Confessions of an Honest Kurd: The Assyrian & Armenian Genocide, Past and present' - Translated from the German Language. wm.warda;

----- Original Message -----

Subject: Re: can I suggest a similar e-mail to the Foreign office and the Prime Minister, if you could do this quickly

----- Original Message -----

From: Eilian Williams

To: private.office@fco.gov.uk

Cc: gordonbrownmp@parliament.uk ; birdc@parliament.uk ; murphyj@parliament.uk ; howellsk@parliament.uk ; millibandd@parliament.uk

Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 2:08 AM

Subject: a sincere request

FAO the Prime Minister, and Foreign Office Ministers(Mr Miliband, Mr Murphy, Mr Howells, Lord Malloch-Brown)

Dear Sirs,

The impending state visit by HM the Queen to Turkey is seen in many quarters as a seal of approval of Turkey's continuing denial of the Genocide of its minorities in 1915, the continuing cultural Genocide in Turkey today, and its continued economic blockade of Armenia.

.It feels to many like rubbing salt on the wounds of the descendants of Genocide survivors, over 30,000 of whom reside in the UK

There are two very imprtant Armenian Genocide Scholars visiting London on the same week as the State visit.(6th till 8th may) They are Dr Haig Demoyan Director of the Genocide Museum in Yerevan, and Professor Ashot Melkonyan, Director of the National Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences, Yerevan, Armenia.

I write to ask the Prime Minister as well as a Member of the Foreign Office,( Mr Miliband and Mr Murphy and Dr Howells or Lord Malloch-Brown) to agree to meet one or both of them. Would any of you be willing to make time (preferably on the 6th may, or failing that on the 7th or 8th may) to meet these.scholars?

You may contact me and I will pass your reply immediately to the relevant people to arrange the meeting.

Mr Murphy has said that he is willing to look at the Genocide issue afresh. Also the Prime Minister is a renowned historian. I should think that you would like to take advantage of this unique opportunity to try to understand the perspective of Armenian historians.

You understand very well, I believe, that the present position of the UK government is untenable: ie that there was no genocide in 1915 because Turkey today is a lucrative ally. The often repeated mantra by government ministers that "the evidence is not sufficiently unequivocal" cannot be taken seriously as we know from all the UK based Genocide Scholars with whom we are in contact, that they have never been contacted by the government for their views. We can claim with a great deal of validity that Armenian Genocide denialism in the UK extends no further than 10 Downing Street.

If you acceeded to this request and arranged a time on the 6th or 7th may that would go some way to alleviate the disappointment felt by many UK Armenians by the Queen's state visit.

Yours sincerely,

Eilian Williams