Armenian News From Wales

Tribute from the Welsh Arts Council web-siteIt is with much sadness that we report the death, on Saturday 11th July 2009, of Tamara Krikorian.Tamara was a leading light in the visual arts world of Wales. Tamara was best known for her championing of artists' practice whilst director of, first the Welsh Sculpture Trust and then Cywaith Cymru Artworks Wales, the national organisation for public art in Wales. She was instrumental in the development of the careers of some of Wales' most exciting and interesting artists, offering them the support to take risks and multiple platforms to show their work thatwent far beyond the traditional model of a public art agency.Trained as a musician, Tamara was a pioneer in the use of video as a means to make art, and is mentioned in the same breath as Yoko Ono, Derek Jarman and Sally Potter amongst many others, who created a context for contemporary artists such as Steve McQueen, Douglas Gordon and Gillian Wearing. The recognition of her seminal influence has only recently been truly acknowledged. Her campaigning led to this art form being legitimised, in the latter part of the 1970s.Whilst living in Scotland, from the mid 60s to the late 70's, she met her partner, the artist Ivor Davies. She taught in Maidstone and Newcastle and co-founded London Video Arts, before settling in Wales, where her commitment to allowing artists to have a voice made her much beloved by those who worked with her.Tribute from Eilian Williams It is with sadness that I learnt yesterday of the passing of Tamara Krikorian who had risen to prominence in the field of Arts, in Wales and further afield. The visit of St Peter's Armenian Church Choir to the Rhondda Valley in 1998 was the occasion on which we met , and she showed great appreciation of this occasion . She was descended from a family who had fled the first Massacres of 1896, and when I told her that there were widespread protests in Wales with much money collected for Armenians in 1896, she said " You don't know how much knowing this means to me" I am glad she was there for the inauguration of the Genocide Monument in 2007 in Cardiff, even though she was not well. She was also present in 2002 at the meeting in the National Assembly to mark the recognition of the Genocide by the majority of Assembly Members. She was a lady of great presence, and dignity, and with a great warmth of heart The funeral was held in St Augustine's Church, Penarth, near Cardiff on 27th Julyfollowed by internment bat 3.30 p.m. in Penarth cemetery. Armenia Solidarity Press ReleaseFirst Joint Lobby of UK Parliament by Armenian and Welsh ActivistsFor the first time, Armenian and Welsh activists lobbied parliament together on issues affecting the two nations. On Monday (20th July) and Tuesday of this week, the last two days of parliament before the summer holidays) leaflets were given to MPs as they arrived in Parliament asking them to sign Early Motion 1588 on the Restitution by Turkey for the Genocide, in particular the return of the land on which stood over 2,000 churches until the 1915 Genocide. These Churches and monasteries were confiscated by the modern state of Turkey in 1923 under the so-called "Law of Abandoned Properties". Such a Law confiscating properties of Genocide Victims, or of Victims of other Crimes against Humanity, is not
recognised by any international body. On the same leaflet were calls for the Immigration Minister Phill Woolas to be dismissed after the deportation of two girls who had arrived in Heathrow on the 18th and 25th May from the Welsh community in Chbut province, Patagonia in Argentina. They were on their way to Wales to visit family and to improve their Welsh language skillsBanners were also held up at the Home Office protesting at the deportations. Welsh hymns were played on a loudspeaker from a car in front of the Home Office, 10 Downing Street and the entrance to parliament. The posters on the car read "Halt the deportations of Welsh Patagonians"The director of Armenia Solidarity was stopped twice under section 44 of the prevention of terrorism act. The police interpreted the playing of Welsh Hymns as "an unpermitted protest". When Mr Eilian Williams challenged the police as to which crime he had committed, he was told he would be charged with "noise pollution". Eventually arrested
and detained for four hours, the police found he has a clean record and released him
with a £30 fine for obstructing the entrance to Parliament This was, we believe, a worthwhile exercise in campaigning simultaneously on two issues of concern to Welsh people and Armenians alike. The leaflet given to passing MPs is shown below.
URGENT APPEALS TO MPs
EDM 1588 on HISTORIC TREATMENT OF MINORITIES IN TURKEY The truth of the Armenian Genocide has now been set in stone in a beautiful National Monument in Cardiff. It has been affirmed by the First Minister (in 2001)and Presiding Officer (in 2007)of the National Assembly of Wales, and by the majority of Assembly Members (in 2002). Also 200 MPs have signed EDMs affirming the truth of the Genocide of Armenians and Assyrians at some time or other (182 signing the EDM in 2007). Even the Turkish Prime Minister in May 2009 admitted the Ethnic Cleansing of Turkey's minorities. The UK government's continued denial of historical facts is a filthy stain on the good name of Labour Party and Mr Brown's Presbyterian conscience. It is interesting that all the MPs recently tarnished in the expenses scandals were all known denialists of the Armenian Genocide. We have good reason to believe that Turkish bribery and pressure has been a factor in the refusal by some MPs to stand up and be counted on the Genocide issue.The important issue now is what degree of Restitution can be obtained during Turkey's accession into the EU. The return of the 2,000 plus Armenian Assyrian and Syriac Churches (even though most of them are now piles of rubble) would go a long way to heal the wounds of Armenians and Assyrians. EDM 1588 . Whatever you wish to call the events of 1915, be it Holocaust (as did two former Prime Ministers Lloyd George and Churchill), New Crimes against Humanity and Civilisation ( British, French and Russian governments in a joint statement in 1915,) or Genocide (Raphael Lempkin the author of the UN Genocide Convention), the degree of Restitution expected would not be altered by your choice of words. I'm confident that the 182 MPs who stood up for the truth in 2007 will see this as a logical progression from the 2007 EDM HISTORIC TREATMENT OF MINORITIES IN TURKEY 03.06.2009Dismore, Andrew
That this House notes the statement by the Turkish Prime Minister recognising that Turkey's minorities have been ethnically cleansed; calls on the Government also to recognise this fact; suggests that a measure of restitution which could be made by the government of Turkey to demonstrate its good intentions would be the return to the jurisdiction of the respective Patriarchates the 2,000 Armenian, Assyrian and
Syriac churches and religious monuments which were expropriated in 1923 by the
Turkish State under the law of abandoned properties following the events of the
1915 Genocide; and urges the Government to make representations to Turkey to this
effect.

We ask you to call for the Immigration Minister Mr Phill Woolas to resign over the
deportation of Welsh Patagonians
There has been widespread outrage in Wales at the deportation of Shirley Edwards
from Trevelin and Evelyn Calcabrini from Porth Madryn , both in Chubut Province in
Patagonia on the 18th and 25th May respectively. Argentine citizens are not normally
required to have a visa to visit the UK. Mr Woolas must carry the responsibility for this
by resigning and compensation should be paid to the two girls. They were
shabbily treated by the cruel Border Agency who put them both on the first plane back.
A concert in the tiny village of Nant Peris at the foot of Snowdon has raised
enough money to pay for airline tickets to bring them back here. Many people who
contributed to the fund were poor people . The concert was our way of killing British
xenophobia with Welsh kindness. Cheques to the fund may be made payable to
"Capel Rehoboth-Cronfa Patagonia".
The reaction from everyone has been that the National Assembly for Wales must be able
to overrule the faceless officials of the Border Agency. Wales must to some extent be
able to control its own Borders
This was a crime against indigenous languages and peoples. The liberty to welcome
people to one's home, to one's country is a fundamental right of nations, a right for which
it is worth sacrificing and enduring prison.
It seems that the UK government cares little for the feelings of unimportant peoples like
the Welsh and the Armenians. Turkish nationals are treated more favourably than the
Welsh Patagonians when applying for visas and are even given free visas if they intend
to start business in the UK From Wales-Armenia Solidarity,
(supported by Nor Serount Cultural Association)
and the Patagonia Campaign
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