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PRESS RELEASE
Gomidas Institute
42 Blythe Rd
London W14 0HA
[email protected]
15 November 2006
Turkish MPs Avoid Meeting British MPs to Discuss Armenian Genocide
Over the past year, a group of British MPs and peers have been
considering allegations made by the Turkish Parliament (TGNA) that
Great Britain was responsible for articulating the Armenian Genocide
thesis; that this thesis was a wartime propaganda fabrication
published in the British Parliamentary Blue Book series in 1916 (The
Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire 1915-16); and that the
British Parliament today should rescind that report.
A group of British MPs and peers who looked at these allegations
disagreed with the Turkish position and invited the latter to a
face-to-face discussion. To date, Turkish Parliamentarians have
avoided any such discussion with their British counterparts.
Earlier today, the Gomidas Institute (London) issued a detailed
update on this on-going saga. See www.gomidas.org
In a press statement, Lord Avebury, Vice-Chair of the Parliamentary
Human Rights Group, stated:
"I very much regret the failure of every one of the 550 MPs of the
Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) to reply to an invitation to
discuss the events of 1915-16, in which a million and a half Armenian
subjects of the Ottoman Empire lost their lives.
"Following a Letter from the TGNA to the British Parliament
challenging the veracity of the evidence published by the British
Government in 1916 in the Blue Book 'The Treatment of Armenians in
the Ottoman Empire 1915-16', a group of MPs and peers wrote proposing
a dialogue between British and Turkish MPs, with academic experts on
both sides, to examine the authenticity of that evidence.
"When no reply was received, I wrote to every Turkish MP
individually, asking if they would be willing to participate in such
a dialogue. Not a single one replied.
"Since neither the TGNA collectively, nor any of its Members, was
ready to defend their position in an open and critical forum, it
became obviously that they would not stand up to an intellectually
rigorous examination. I believe the original Letter fromthe TGNA was
an attempt to stimulate wider Turkish denialism, rather than to
establish communication between Turkish and UK Parliamentarians which
might have clarified interpretation of the events of 1915-16. But the
invitation remains open, and I hope that by publishing this
statement, I may yet prompt some Turkish MPs with the courage to
engage in dialogue."
The Gomidas Institute is an independent academic organisation
dedicated to modern Armenian Studies
PRESS RELEASE
Gomidas Institute
42 Blythe Rd
London W14 0HA
[email protected]
15 November 2006
Turkish MPs Avoid Meeting British MPs to Discuss Armenian Genocide
Over the past year, a group of British MPs and peers have been
considering allegations made by the Turkish Parliament (TGNA) that
Great Britain was responsible for articulating the Armenian Genocide
thesis; that this thesis was a wartime propaganda fabrication
published in the British Parliamentary Blue Book series in 1916 (The
Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire 1915-16); and that the
British Parliament today should rescind that report.
A group of British MPs and peers who looked at these allegations
disagreed with the Turkish position and invited the latter to a
face-to-face discussion. To date, Turkish Parliamentarians have
avoided any such discussion with their British counterparts.
Earlier today, the Gomidas Institute (London) issued a detailed
update on this on-going saga. See www.gomidas.org
In a press statement, Lord Avebury, Vice-Chair of the Parliamentary
Human Rights Group, stated:
"I very much regret the failure of every one of the 550 MPs of the
Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) to reply to an invitation to
discuss the events of 1915-16, in which a million and a half Armenian
subjects of the Ottoman Empire lost their lives.
"Following a Letter from the TGNA to the British Parliament
challenging the veracity of the evidence published by the British
Government in 1916 in the Blue Book 'The Treatment of Armenians in
the Ottoman Empire 1915-16', a group of MPs and peers wrote proposing
a dialogue between British and Turkish MPs, with academic experts on
both sides, to examine the authenticity of that evidence.
"When no reply was received, I wrote to every Turkish MP
individually, asking if they would be willing to participate in such
a dialogue. Not a single one replied.
"Since neither the TGNA collectively, nor any of its Members, was
ready to defend their position in an open and critical forum, it
became obviously that they would not stand up to an intellectually
rigorous examination. I believe the original Letter fromthe TGNA was
an attempt to stimulate wider Turkish denialism, rather than to
establish communication between Turkish and UK Parliamentarians which
might have clarified interpretation of the events of 1915-16. But the
invitation remains open, and I hope that by publishing this
statement, I may yet prompt some Turkish MPs with the courage to
engage in dialogue."
The Gomidas Institute is an independent academic organisation
dedicated to modern Armenian Studies
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