Publicising 24 April in the UK

Now that 24 April is recognised on the Holocaust Memorial Day website, the UK Armenians at last have an independent source to refer to when communicating with other interested parties.

This can only have value if it is publicised.

So how about sending this to your MP, MEP, councillor or any other person who could be helpful in changing attitudes in this country.

The HMD entry is attached to this email so you can copy/paste or attach.

It follows with the email that the Armenian Legal Initiative Group sent out: use it or compose your own letter/email.

To find you MP, click on

http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/

To find your MEP, click on

http://www.europarl.org.uk/view/en/your_MEPs/List-MEPs-by-region.html

Sample email/letter:

Dear MP

Last week, Armenian communities across the world remembered the victims of the first genocide of the 20^th century that started in 1915 during which up to 1.5 million Armenians were displaced from the ancestral homes and perished. Church services, parades and remembrance events occurred in London as well as throughout nearly all the countries in Europe..

There were no reports of the 24^th of April date of remembrance in the British press nor any substantial articles in the European press. Even euronews did not feature this topic.

It is hurtful for our people that this tragedy is ignored in a way that appears that it is being airbrushed from history.  Yet negotiations continue with Turkey, the country that succeeded the Ottoman administration of the time who were the perpetuators.  Should these negotiations lead to Turkey joining Europe, this genocide will become part of the European historical legacy.  It would be far preferable that Turkey faces up to its history as early as possible and before any such outcome. We ask you to remember this and use your good offices to resolve this long-standing issue.

There is a chink of light in the UK. The Holocaust Memorial; Day Trust has added the 24^th April in their Dates to Remember and this entry follows for you to understand better the tragedy.  Mrs Aghajanian is now in a convent resting home in Gloucestershire: she gives poignant recall of her memories as a child.

Yours sincerely

Holocaust Memorial Day Trust

Dates to Remember

http://hmd.org.uk/genocides/dates-to-remember/deportation-of-armenian-intellectuals-from-istanbul

24/04/1915: Deportation of Armenian intellectuals from Istanbul

24 April 1915 is a symbolic date for commemorating the victims of the Ottoman Empire’s near total destruction of its Armenian population.

This day saw the arrest of 235 leading members of Istanbul’s Armenian community – among them poets, doctors, religious leaders and political dissidents representing some of the most prominent Armenian intellectuals in the Ottoman Empire. Many of the 235 would be tortured and publicly executed in the months following their arrest.

Armenians within the Ottoman Empire already occupied a precarious position when World War One broke out in 1914. Major pogroms during 1894-96, and again in 1909, had seen thousands massacred. After a number of military setbacks in World War One, Ottoman leaders undertook measures to deport Armenian populations from their homes despite the vast majority not being located in areas of military activity.

The Armenians were deported along a number of routes to desert areas that could not sustain them. When the Armenian community of Van, a Southeastern town, resisted attacks against them on 20 April 1915, Ottoman leaders decided to make deportations an empire-wide policy. The Armenians forced upon these death marches were deprived of food and water. Rapes and murders were routinely committed against those deported.

Satenig Ehranjian was an Armenian deported with her family from Erzurum in June 1915. The authorities had already taken her fiancé when she was forced from her home. After several days walking towards the desert, she was separated from her sister and her mother. Her mother was too ill to continue on the torturous journey and her sister was abducted. As with her fiancé, Satenig never saw her sister or mother again.

Deportations like this occurred across the Ottoman Empire throughout 1915 and 1916. By the end of World War One, Ottoman policies of expulsion and extermination of the Armenian population had resulted in the estimated deaths of up to 1.5 million men, women and children.

Adolf Hitler later referenced the systematic destruction of the Armenians as the Nazis planned the murder of European Jews. Today, many communities come together across the world on 24 April to remember the victims of the Ottoman Empire’s campaign to annihilate its Armenian population.

You can use HMDT resources to find out more about:

Astrid Aghajanian (pictured above), who survived deportation into the Syrian desert

How the murder of the Armenians would influence the development of international law on genocide and crimes against humanity