MEETING ON DARFUR AND DENIAL OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN THE UK PARLIAMENT (IN THE CONTEXT OF AN ETHICAL FOREIGN POLICY)

AZG Armenian Daily
04/07/2007

Police Take an aggressive attitude to Armenian Lobbyists

In London yesterday, 27.06.2007, on Tony Blair’s last day as Prime
Minister, British-Armenian activists lobbied parliament all day in
support of Early Day Motion 357. This motion, recognising the Genocide,
has now been signed by 144 Members of Parliament.

Police took an unwarranted intolerant attitude, tearing a large
"Recognise the Genocide" banner and detaining the director of Armenia
Solidarity for half an hour under the Prevention of Terrorism Act
for holding the banner too close to Parliament. The distribution of
leaflets was continued throughout and the banner redisplayed where
it could still be noticed by those entering the Houses of Parliament.

A meeting on "Darfur and Armenia" was organised by Armenia Solidarity,
the British-Armenian All-Party Parliamentary Group, Nor Serount
Publications & the Armenian Genocide Trust in the House of Commons,
in the evening, in conjunction with, the Genocide Prevention All
Party Parliamentary Group and the Aegis Trust

In the meeting in the House of Commons, Dr James Smith of The Aegis
Trust, in a major speech on Ethical Foreign Policy emphasised the
parallels between Armenia and Darfur where the Turkish model of the
20th century is being successfully repeated. Ruth Barnett spoke on
the psychological effects of denial and introduced the concept of
reducing the present "Genocide Footprint" by addressing the issues
of past genocides. The Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia, Dr Vahe
Gabrielyan, emphasised the political dimensions of genocide recognition
which could not be addressed by any commission of historians however
eminent. The meeting was chaired by John Bercow MP of the Genocide
Prevention All Party Parliamentary Group, and attended by several
other parliamentarians including Lord Avebury, Lord Alton of Liverpool
David Burrowes MP as well as David Drew MP, the sponsor of the meeting.

The present Armenian Genocide Recognition effort in the UK is an ever
expanding coalition which is gathering momentum involving more and
more Armenian and UK supporters. "Genocide Recognition is a human,
not merely an Armenian, issue" said Eilian Williams, a spokesman
for the organisers. "We urge all Armenians to continue lobbying to
obtain further parliamentary support as well as to consider joining
the Aegis Trust in their Genocide Prevention Campaigns.