GOMIDAS INSTITUTE: IT WOULD BE UNWISE TO SUPPORT EFFORTS TO DENY AUTHENTICITY OF BLUE BOOK
LONDON, MARCH 23, NOYAN TAPAN. Turkish Parliamentarians are
preparing to formally challenge the authenticity of the 1916 British
Parliamentary Blue Book on the Armenian Genocide, the Gomidas Institute
(UK) reported. As part of their formal challenge, they intend to send a
delegation to make representations to the Houses of Parliament. Deniz
Baykal, the leader of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP)
has already met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss
denying the Armenian Genocide. The chief target in the latest denial
efforts is an assault on the 1916 British Parliamentary Blue Book, The
Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire 1915-1916. “The proposed
Turkish programme to deny the Armenian Genocide in London should be
taken seriously,” the Gomidas Institute’s statement asserted. The
institute is the publisher of the only critical edition of the
Blue Book, as well as dozens of other publications on the Armenian
Genocide. A new edition of The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire 1915-1916. [Uncensored Edition] will be released shortly by
the institute. In the introduction to that critical edition, historian
Ara Sarafian notes that the facts covered by the Blue Book have been
corroborated by the records of other national archives, including
those of the United States. Indeed, the Gomidas Institute has just
published a critical collection of those documents, United States
Official Records on the Armenian Genocide 1915-1917. The existence
of this critical literature suggests that it would be unwise for
Erdogan’s government or other Turkish Parliamentarians to support
Mr. Baykal’s efforts to deny the authenticity of the Blue Book. The
Parliamentary Blue Book has integrity that has withstood critical
examination. Indeed, those inclined to criticise this work would be
well advised to read its content before discussing it. The Gomidas
Institute is an independent academic institution dedicated to modern
Armenian studies.