Armenia Solidarity Press Release
ARMENIA SOLIDARITY
c/o the Temple of Peace
Cathays Park, Cardiff, Wales
07876561398 or 00447876561398(int.)
eilian@nant.wanadoo.co.uk

UK Foreign Minister admits over a million Armenians were killed in the
massacres of 1915/1916

The first cracks appear in the UK government’s wall of silence and
denial of the Armenian genocide

Following representations from the M.P. of an "Armenia Solidarity"
member, the Rt Hon Geoff Hoon M.P. the Foreign 0ffice Minister
responsible for UK/Armenia relations, admitted in a letter that during
1915/1916 "over a million ethnic Armenian citizens of the 0ttoman
Empire were killed. Many were massacred….."
He went on " The massacres of 1915….1916 were an appalling
tragedy, which the British government of the day condemned"obviously
refering to the joint declaration by France, Great Britain and Russia
on 24th may 1915 which mentions "massacring Armenians with the
connivance and often assistance of 0ttoman authorities" and which refers
to "those new crimes of Turkey against humanity and civilisation" "We
fully endorse that view", he continued.
This position is certainly at variance with the official Turkish
position that the Armenian deaths resulted from" a bitter confrontation
instigated by Armenian radicals in colloboration with or in the service
of invading foreign forces…..in the form of rebellion,conspiracy,
sabotage, large scale atrocities, and the massacre off an estimated
three million Turkish and other Muslim civilians in Anatolia by Armenian
militants and armed gangs" (K.Haktanir, Turkish Ambassador to UK
27/11/2002)
We recognise that genocide recognition will have to be fought for
clause by clause, comma by comma,and so this change of tone in the
British government’s reply is believed to be signifigant. A book of
evidence on the genocide,"Remember," compiled by John Torosyan of the
Armenian/Welsh Friendship Society, was presented to Prime Minister Tony
Blair at the Annual Conference of the Labour Party in september.
While again not using the term Genocide, this is a less ambiguous
statement than previous attempts to bury the issue by successive UK
government ministers.

We request that more UK Armenians make contact with us at
eilian@nant.wanadoo.co.uk