Armenian Solidarity with the Victims of All Genocides
Nor Serount Cultural Association
C.H.A.K.(Centre of Halabja)
c/o The Temple of Peace, Cathays Park, Cardiff, Wales
A Recognition of the Armenian Genocide made public in the House Of Commons
The 60th anniversary of the UN Genocide convention was marked in the House of Commons this week, on tuesday, 9th December, by a public recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Socialist Party of Kurdistan (PSK). Participating in the event were Professor Khatchatur Pilikian, author Desmond Fernandes, Akif Wan of the KNK and Adnan Kochar of CHAK. Lord Hylton chaired and Andrew Pelling MP participated.
The PSK statement read :"Turkey has not confronted its history and is adamant and stubborn in its behaviour. It is less than a century since the Armenian Genocide happened in front of the eyes of the world. This shameful act for humanity was condemned by the parliaments of many countries. Each time the Turkish government and its parliament has responded to these condemnations with anger. Excluding few conscientious intellectuals, the so called intellectuals and artists of Turkey have followed the footsteps of their politicians and tried to hide, deny, even falsify history and are using every trick in the book to blame the Armenians.
Of course, in Turkey, the example of a shameful act is not just the Armenian Genocide, but what was done to the Assyrians, Greeks and Kurds are crimes against humanity too. During the genocide of the Armenians, the Assyrians got their share in this slaughter" (whole statement below)
Author Desmond Fernandes described the way that Lemkin conceptualised the term "genocide". The Armenian 'genocide' - which he recognised, as such - had occured, he noted, without the perpetrators being brought to justice. Lemkin's conceptualisation of the term "genocide", and campaign to make it an international crime (through an international initiative that resulted in the United Nations' Genocide Convention being passed exactly 60 years ago), was aimed at trying to address these types of concerns in a practical manner. Fernandes then outlined the way in which Armenians, Chaldeans-Assyrians, Greeks, Kurds and "Others", have been subjected to genocide - not only during the 1915-1918 period, but also during the so-called 'War of Independence' and Turkish republican period.
He provided case studies to highlight the nature of the genocides, and detailed the manner in which Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, a renowned genocide scholar, has reiterated the fact that Turkey still remains, in terms of the nature of ill-treatment of Kurds, in breach of two articles of the Genocide Convention. Kurds, as Tove Skutnabb-Kangas and others have further shown, are also being subjected to 'linguistic' and ongoing 'cultural genocide'. Concerning the nature of targeting of "minorities" in Turkey, Fernandes outlined the manner in which Armenians, Kurds, Assyrians, Greeks and "Others" continue to be subjected to cultural genocide (just as "Greek Cypriots and 'Christian' Others" also continue to be subjected to cultural genocide in the north of Cyprus).
'Deep political' and 'deep state' linked circles continue to adopt ideological positions that are all too willing to engage and 'profit from' genocidal actions. Recent statements by the Turkish Prime Minister (4th November 2008) and Vecdi Gonul, the Defence Minister, have merely encouraged those who advocate targeting of the 'non-Turkish Other'. Their positions, he noted, have been deeply criticised by the Society for Threatened Peoples, the Socialist Party of Kurdistan (see attached statement, in full), Arat Dink (the son of assassinated Hrant Dink), amongst other human rights campaigners, parties and organisations. Concerning the perspectives of two leading Kurdish parties over the 'cultural genocide' debate, he noted that Abdullah Ocalan was recently (in September 2008) quoted as saying: "I am warning the people against the cultural genocide and the dangers: I express my opinions". Murat Karayilan has also been quoted (in Alternatif in September 2008) as referring to the "cultural genocide policies" of the state. For the Socialist Party of Kurdistan (PSK): "The genocide against the Kurds has been ongoing since the time of the Ottoman Empire ... We can say that, all the things done to the Kurds, and at different times and places, ... are physical and cultural genocide. The system that started this policy towards the end of the Ottoman Empire and that spread all through [the Turkish] Republican period wanted to exterminate tens of millions of Kurds through genocide, deportation and assimilation. Even if this has not been fully achieved, [to date], such policies had a huge destructive impact on the lives of the Kurdish people. Has the situation changed today? No. Today, Turkish statesmen are neither brave enough to confront their history nor to make real changes in their policies that are suitable for our times. They are disregarding world public opinion and international law and carrying on with their policies without fear. Today the system is using the terror that it had created, carrying on with its militarist and racist activities. It is resisting" initiatives aimed at "opening a peaceful path for a solution".
Nor Serount Cultural Association
C.H.A.K.(Centre of Halabja)
c/o The Temple of Peace, Cathays Park, Cardiff, Wales
A Recognition of the Armenian Genocide made public in the House Of Commons
The 60th anniversary of the UN Genocide convention was marked in the House of Commons this week, on tuesday, 9th December, by a public recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Socialist Party of Kurdistan (PSK). Participating in the event were Professor Khatchatur Pilikian, author Desmond Fernandes, Akif Wan of the KNK and Adnan Kochar of CHAK. Lord Hylton chaired and Andrew Pelling MP participated.
The PSK statement read :"Turkey has not confronted its history and is adamant and stubborn in its behaviour. It is less than a century since the Armenian Genocide happened in front of the eyes of the world. This shameful act for humanity was condemned by the parliaments of many countries. Each time the Turkish government and its parliament has responded to these condemnations with anger. Excluding few conscientious intellectuals, the so called intellectuals and artists of Turkey have followed the footsteps of their politicians and tried to hide, deny, even falsify history and are using every trick in the book to blame the Armenians.
Of course, in Turkey, the example of a shameful act is not just the Armenian Genocide, but what was done to the Assyrians, Greeks and Kurds are crimes against humanity too. During the genocide of the Armenians, the Assyrians got their share in this slaughter" (whole statement below)
Author Desmond Fernandes described the way that Lemkin conceptualised the term "genocide". The Armenian 'genocide' - which he recognised, as such - had occured, he noted, without the perpetrators being brought to justice. Lemkin's conceptualisation of the term "genocide", and campaign to make it an international crime (through an international initiative that resulted in the United Nations' Genocide Convention being passed exactly 60 years ago), was aimed at trying to address these types of concerns in a practical manner. Fernandes then outlined the way in which Armenians, Chaldeans-Assyrians, Greeks, Kurds and "Others", have been subjected to genocide - not only during the 1915-1918 period, but also during the so-called 'War of Independence' and Turkish republican period.
He provided case studies to highlight the nature of the genocides, and detailed the manner in which Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, a renowned genocide scholar, has reiterated the fact that Turkey still remains, in terms of the nature of ill-treatment of Kurds, in breach of two articles of the Genocide Convention. Kurds, as Tove Skutnabb-Kangas and others have further shown, are also being subjected to 'linguistic' and ongoing 'cultural genocide'. Concerning the nature of targeting of "minorities" in Turkey, Fernandes outlined the manner in which Armenians, Kurds, Assyrians, Greeks and "Others" continue to be subjected to cultural genocide (just as "Greek Cypriots and 'Christian' Others" also continue to be subjected to cultural genocide in the north of Cyprus).
'Deep political' and 'deep state' linked circles continue to adopt ideological positions that are all too willing to engage and 'profit from' genocidal actions. Recent statements by the Turkish Prime Minister (4th November 2008) and Vecdi Gonul, the Defence Minister, have merely encouraged those who advocate targeting of the 'non-Turkish Other'. Their positions, he noted, have been deeply criticised by the Society for Threatened Peoples, the Socialist Party of Kurdistan (see attached statement, in full), Arat Dink (the son of assassinated Hrant Dink), amongst other human rights campaigners, parties and organisations. Concerning the perspectives of two leading Kurdish parties over the 'cultural genocide' debate, he noted that Abdullah Ocalan was recently (in September 2008) quoted as saying: "I am warning the people against the cultural genocide and the dangers: I express my opinions". Murat Karayilan has also been quoted (in Alternatif in September 2008) as referring to the "cultural genocide policies" of the state. For the Socialist Party of Kurdistan (PSK): "The genocide against the Kurds has been ongoing since the time of the Ottoman Empire ... We can say that, all the things done to the Kurds, and at different times and places, ... are physical and cultural genocide. The system that started this policy towards the end of the Ottoman Empire and that spread all through [the Turkish] Republican period wanted to exterminate tens of millions of Kurds through genocide, deportation and assimilation. Even if this has not been fully achieved, [to date], such policies had a huge destructive impact on the lives of the Kurdish people. Has the situation changed today? No. Today, Turkish statesmen are neither brave enough to confront their history nor to make real changes in their policies that are suitable for our times. They are disregarding world public opinion and international law and carrying on with their policies without fear. Today the system is using the terror that it had created, carrying on with its militarist and racist activities. It is resisting" initiatives aimed at "opening a peaceful path for a solution".
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