Reports on BAAPPG House of Commons Conference‏

Remarks at House of Commons,
Demanding Justice for Armenians
By Harut Sassounian,
Publisher, The California Courier

At the invitation of the British-Armenian All-Party Parliamentary Group

(BAAPPG), I spoke on May 7 at a special conference on the Armenian

Genocide held at the House of Commons, Committee Room 3, the

British Parliament, London.

Dr. Israel Charny, Director of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide

in Jerusalem, was also invited to speak at this conference. Regrettably,

due to a last minute illness, Dr. Charny could not attend. His prepared

remarks titled, “Denial of Genocide is not only a political tactic, it is an

attack on decent people’s minds and emotions,” was read by Peter Barker,

a former broadcaster of BBC Radio.

The conference was chaired by House of Lords member Baroness Cox,

Chairman of BAAPPG. In attendance were: Members of the House of

Lords, the Armenian Desk officer of the Foreign Office, representatives

from the Embassies of Greece, Kuwait, Serbia, Slovenia, and Syria,

non-governmental organizations, scholars, journalists, and other

distinguished guests.

In my remarks titled, “Armenian Genocide and Quest for Justice,” I cited

the acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide by the United Nations,

European Parliament, legislatures of more than 20 countries, U.S. House

of Representatives, Pres. Reagan, 42 out of 50 U.S. States, and the

International Association of Genocide Scholars.

I concluded that “after so many acknowledgments, the Armenian Genocide

has become a universally recognized historical fact.”

I expressed regret that the United Kingdom remained one of the rare major

countries that has yet to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. I pointed

out that “Britain’s siding with a denialist state is not so much due to lack of

evidence or conviction, but, sadly, because of sheer political expediency,

with the intent of appeasing Turkey.” I urged British officials to heed the

cautionary words of Prime Minister Winston Churchill who said: “An

appeaser is someone who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”

I suggested that Armenians no longer needed to convince the world that

what took place during the years 1915-23 was “a genocide.”

Here are excerpts from my May 7 speech:

“A simple acknowledgment of and a mere apology, however, would not

heal the wounds and undo the consequences of the Genocide. Armenians

are still waiting for justice to be meted out, restoring their historic rights and

returning their confiscated lands and properties.

“In recent years, Armenian-American lawyers have successfully filed

lawsuits in U.S. federal courts, securing millions of dollars from New York

Life and French AXA insurance companies for unpaid claims to

policy-holders who perished in the Genocide. Several more lawsuits are

pending against other insurance companies and German banks to recover

funds belonging to victims of the Armenian Genocide.

“In 1915, a centrally planned and executed attempt was made to uproot from

its ancestral homeland and decimate an entire nation, depriving the survivors

of their cultural heritage as well as their homes, lands, houses of worship,

and personal properties.

“A gross injustice was perpetrated against the Armenian people, which

entitles them, as in the case of the Jewish Holocaust, to just compensation

for their enormous losses.

“Restitution can take many forms. As an initial step, the Republic of Turkey

could place under the jurisdiction of the Istanbul-based Armenian Patriarchate

all of the Armenian churches and religious monuments which were expropriated

and converted to mosques and warehouses or outright destroyed.

“In the absence of any voluntary restitution by the Republic of Turkey, Armenians

could resort to litigation, seeking ‘restorative justice.’

“In considering legal recourse, one should be mindful of the fact that the Armenian

Genocide did neither start nor end in 1915.

“Large-scale genocidal acts were committed starting with Sultan Abdul Hamid’s

massacre of 300,000 Armenians from 1894 to 1896; the subsequent killings of

30,000 Armenians in Adana by the Young Turk regime in 1909; culminating in the

Genocide of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 to 1923; and followed by forced

Turkification and deportation of tens of thousands of Armenians by the Republic

of Turkey.

“Most of the early leaders of the Turkish Republic were high-ranking Ottoman

officials who had participated in perpetrating the Armenian Genocide. This

unbroken succession in leadership assured the continuity of the Ottomans’

anti-Armenian policies. The Republic of Turkey, as the continuation of the Ottoman

Empire, could therefore be held responsible for the Genocide.

“An important document, recently discovered in the U.S. archives, provides irrefutable

evidence that the Republic of Turkey continued to uproot and exile the remnants of

Armenians well into the 1930’s motivated by purely racist reasons. The document in

question is a ‘Strictly Confidential’ cable, dated March 2nd, 1934, and sent by U.S.

Ambassador Robert P. Skinner from Ankara to the U.S. Secretary of State, reporting

the deportation of Armenians.

“In the 1920’s and 30’s, thousands of Armenian survivors of the Genocide, were forced

out of their homes in Cilicia and Western Armenia to locations elsewhere in Turkey or

neighboring countries. In the 1940’s, these racist policies were followed by the Varlik

Vergisi, the imposition of an exorbitant wealth tax on Armenians, Greeks and Jews.

And, during the 1955 Istanbul pogroms, many Greeks as well as Armenians and Jews

were killed and their properties destroyed.

“This continuum of massacres, genocide and deportations highlights the existence of

a long-term strategy implemented by successive Turkish regimes from the 1890’s to

more recent times, in order to solve the Armenian Question with finality.

“Consequently, the Republic of Turkey is legally liable for its own crimes against

Armenians, as well as those committed by its Ottoman predecessors. “Turkey inherited

the assets of the Ottoman Empire; And, therefore, it must have also inherited its liabilities.

“Finally, since Armenians often refer to their three sequential demands from Turkey:

‘Recognition’ of the Genocide; ‘Reparations’ for their losses; and the ‘Return’ of their lands,

Turks have come to believe that once the Genocide is recognized, Armenians will then

pursue their next two demands.

“This is the main reason why Turks adamantly refuse to acknowledge the Armenian

Genocide. They fear that acceptance of the Genocide would lead to other demands for

restitution. They believe that by denying the first demand, they would be blocking the ones

that are sure to follow.

“The fact is that, commemorative resolutions adopted by legislative bodies of various

countries and statements made on the Armenian Genocide by world leaders have no force

of law, and therefore, no legal consequence.

“Armenians, Turks and others involved in this historical, and yet contemporary issue, must

realize that recognition of the Armenian Genocide or the lack thereof, will neither enable nor

deter its consideration by international legal institutions.

“Once Turkish officials realize that recognition by itself cannot and would not lead to other

emands, they may no longer persist in their obsessive denial of these tragic events.

“Without waiting for any further recognition, Armenians can pursue their historic rights through

proper legal channels, such as the International Court of Justice (where only states have such

jurisdiction), the European Court of Human Rights and U.S. Federal Courts.

“Justice, based on international law, must take its course.”

Following an extensive question and answer period, Armenia’s Ambassador to Great Britain,

Vahe Gabrieliyan, delivered the closing remarks. Based on the speeches of the two speakers,

the BAAPPG issued a statement calling on the British Government to acknowledge the

Armenian Genocide.

A CONFERENCE ENTITLED 'THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: INTERNATIONAL
RECOGNITION AND CURRENT CHALLENGES' HELD IN HOUSE OF LORDS IN

GREAT BRITAIN
ArmInfo
2009-05-11 17:35:00

ArmInfo. On May 8, a conference entitled "The Armenian Genocide:
International Recognition and Current Challenges" was held in the
House of Lords in Great Britain. The conference was organized by the
British-Armenian All Party Parliamentary Group and Armenian Embassy.

To take part in the conference, Israel Charny, a well-known historian
specializing on the study of genocide, and well-known publicist Harut
Sasunyan were invited to the conference, however, I.Charny failed to
come and his speech was read off.

The participants presented documentary materials about the genocide,
stressed the inadmissibility of its denial and significance of its
international recognition. In particular, Sasunyan touched upon the
issue of recognizing the Armenian Genocide by the USA, which was
actually done as early as 1975 and 1984 by the H.Rep. Resolutions,
as well as by ex-president Ronald Reagan.

Armenian Ambassador to Great Britain Vahe Gabrielyan thanked the
participants and members of the British Parliament for the activity
aimed at recognizing the Armenian Genocide and stressed the necessity
of its recognition by Great Britain. The ambassador also touched upon
the current process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations.

BRITISH-ARMENIAN PARLIAMENTARY GROUP HELD A

CONFERENCE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
PanARMENIAN.Net
11.05.2009 12:06 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In Remembrance of the 94th Anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide, the British-Armenian All-Party Parliamentary
Group, under the auspices of the Armenian Embassy in Britain, held a
conference, entitled: "The Armenian Genocide. International Recognition
and Current Challenges " on Thursday 7th May 2009, in Committee Room
3 of the House of Commons, London SW1A OAA, British Parliament.

The invited speakers were Professor Israel Charny from Israel and Mr
Harut Sassounian from USA. Due to illness, Professor Charny did not
attend the event and, instead, sent his article, which was read by
Mr. Peter Barker, a former broadcaster of the BBC Radio 3 Programme.

The conference was chaired by the Baroness Cox of Queensbury, Chairman
of the BAAPPG and the Vote of Thanks was given by His Excellency
Ambassador Gabrielyan.

Based on the contents of the two Speakers speeches ,the
British-Armenian All-Party Parliamentary Group will issue a Statement ,
lobbying the Governments of Britain , USA and Turkey to recognize the
Armenian Genocide , committed by the Ottoman Government of 1915, Odette
Bazil, Co-Founder and Executive Secretary of The British-Armenian
All-Party Parliamentary Group reported to PanARMENIAN.Net.
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