Armenian News combined with Holocaust memorial Day program on BBC2 TV

The lockout of the Armenian Genocide applied to this program, 

even though the presentation of the build-up and events of the 

Holocaust were so similar to those experienced by the Armenians.

The HMD Trust promised that the the genocide wold be mentioned 

but here was no broadcast evidence of this.

There is the following entry under their website 'Genocides' tab
(but the entry scrupulously only uses the description "atrocities"):

Atrocities against the Armenians 

Between 1915 and 1918, the Armenian population of the Ottoman 

Empire were systematically persecuted, deported from their homes 

and murdered. Following the Balkan War and start of the First 

World War, Armenian men, women and children were expelled and 

exterminated in an attempt to destroy their very existence. The 

campaign was waged against Armenians following a period of 

deterioration in relations between ethnic groups in the Empire and 

a number of political and financial upheavals.

It is unknown exactly how many Armenians were murdered in this 

period but estimates range from 1.3 million to 1.9 million. In 1933, 

the Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin, was so motivated by the lack of 

recognition and awareness of the crimes in Armenia which occurred

 only a few years before, that he presented a paper to the League 

of Nations. The paper outlined a way in which the International 

Community could condemn the crimes and atrocities in the Ottoman 

Empire, and provide a basis to prosecute the perpetrators behind 

such crimes. It wasn’t until 1946 that the UN recognised the term 

genocide and affirmed the cause that Lemkin had dedicated his life 

to. To date, the 1946 convention is still used to recognise the actions 

of a state-sponsored attempt to destroy a particular group of its 

people.

If you would like to find out more about the atrocities in Armenia we 

recommend a number of books on our bibliography and you may 

find the Fergal Keane documentary in our film reviews of interest. 

As part of a film for HMD 2011, we recorded the Untold Story of 

Astrid Aghajanian whose mother saved her from murder in Armenia 

by hiding beneath the bodies of those who had already been killed. 

- See more at: 

http://hmd.org.uk/page/holocaust-genocides#sthash.cr3K6Ct6.dpuf 


The Armenian Genocide was mentioned on Channel 4 News at 

about 7.15 p.m.
The reporter, Alex Thompson, mentioned that it was a criminal act to 

even to refer to it in Turkey.

He is an example of local recognition :

This Is Wiltshire:
Moving tributes paid on Holocaust Memorial Day 
Tuesday 27th January 2015
By Mike Benke 

DOZENS of people gathered at Swindon's war memorial today to 

remember the atrocities committed during the Holocaust and other 

genocides across the globe.

Words were spoken about the importance of the day and then wreaths 

were laid both by the Mayor Teresa Page and local school children.

The event, marking Holocaust Memorial Day, was organised by 

Matt Holland who said this year’s was one of the most well-attended 

in recent years.

He said: “On the 70th anniversary since the camp liberations it is 

good to see so many people. We have not had this big a turnout 

before.

“It is often said we should move on from pain but I think it is important 

that once a year we remember what happened during the holocaust 

and all other genocides, such as in Rwanda, Bosnia and Armenia.”

And finally, here is another article in the press, this time from our 

own community:

Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: 

We must stop denying the Armenian Genocide by Ottoman 

Turkey a century ago 

By Raffi Sarkissian
January 27, 2015 

According to Prime Minster David Cameron, a national service of 

commemoration at the Cenotaph in London on Anzac Day, 25 April 

will be a high-profile UK-Led event arranged in co-operation with 

the governments of Australia and New Zealand, who have held a 

ceremony there on that date for the last 98 years. 

Unsurprisingly, the prime minister's announcement also includes a 

UK-led Commonwealth and Ireland ceremony at the Commonwealth 

War Graves Commission Helles Memorial in Turkey on 24 April, 2015, 

the eve of the Gallipoli landings. The Prince of Wales will be leading 

the UK delegation.

But the year 2015 also marks the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, 

the first genocide of the 20 th century, organised and perpetrated 

throughout different regions of the Ottoman Empire by the government 

of the Young Turks in 1915 during the course of World War I.

Armenian people across the world have been commemorating the 

Armenian Genocide on 24 April every year.

The British Armenian Community has petitioned Downing Street every 

year calling for official recognition of the veracity of the Armenian 

Genocide by the government in the UK, urging our successive prime 

ministers to stop the denial of the first genocide of 20 th Century and 

complying with Turkey's policy of unjust denial.

In a blatant act of denial, Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan 

invited Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to ceremonies marking 

the Centenary of the Battle of Gallipoli in Çanakkale on 24 April 2015, 

which coincides with the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.

This is the first time that the Battle of Gallipoli will be commemorated 

on 24 April.

President Sargsyan rebuffed Erdogan's invitation by reminding 

Erdogan of the invitation handed to him in person several months 

ago for the events to be held in Yerevan, Armenia on 24 April, 2015 

to mark the Centenary of the mass killing of Armenians across 

Ottoman Empire, to which the Turkish president has not ever 

responded. 

Genocide scholars agree that 70% of the Armenian population, 

roughly 1.5 million, were killed mercilessly or fell victim to starvation 

and illness during the forced deportations. Massacres and deportations 

continued throughout 1916 and occurred with lesser intensity until 

1923. 

In an open letter addressed to Turkey's Prime Minster in 2005, 

the International Association of Genocide Scholars invited Turkey 

to face its history and officially recognise the Armenian Genocide. 

Since 1965 over 20 countries and international bodies, including 

Germany, Canada, France and Italy have recognised the veracity 

of the Armenian Genocide.

Turkey and its allies remain adamant by denying the historical 

validity of the Armenian Genocide. The UK, USA and Israel's 

governments fail to realise that by supporting Turkey's policy of 

denial, they promote injustice.

In the case of the British government, they deny their own history 

by forgetting the fact that in the course of World War One the British 

government revealed the truth about the genocidal fate of the 

Armenians .

So why, 100 years on, does today's British government refuse to 

acknowledge that truth?

The first phase of the massacres and forced deportations of Armenians 

began with the arrest, confinement and murder of 1,000 Armenian 

community leaders, doctors, lawyers, merchants, pharmacists and 

teachers in Constantinople, modern-day Istanbul, capital of Ottoman 

Turkey, on 24 April 1915.

This date is therefore significant and commemorative for Armenians 

across the globe.

Given the recent changes in Turkey and following the assassination 

of the Turkish Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, the Armenian Genocide 

is commemorated in Turkey every year. Turkish intellectuals openly 

address the subject, inviting their government to change their policy 

of denial.

The Turkish government should realise that after 100 years of denial, 

it is time to acknowledge their past and accept that millions of Armenians 

and other Christians fell victim to their 'relocation' policy of Christian 

minorities.

By acknowledging the truth, they will pave the way for Turkey's 

democratisation and progress bringing the country closer to European 

values.

Raffi Sarkissian is a co-chair of the Armenian Genocide Centenary 

Commemoration Committee.