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Armenia Solidarity Press Release
c/o The Temple of Peace, King Edward VII Ave, Cardiff , Wales
[email protected] Tel : 0044 7718982732
One man arrested in First Joint Lobby of UK Parliament by Armenian and
Welsh activists
For the first time, Armenian and Welsh activists lobbied parliament
together on issues affecting the two nations. On monday (20th July) and
tuesday of this week,(the last two days of parliament before the summer
holidays), leaflets were given to MPs as they arrived in parliament
asking them to sign Early Motion 1588 on Restitution by Turkey for the
Genocide, in particular the return of the land on which stood over 2,000
churches until the 1915 Genocide. These Churches and monasteries were
confiscated by the modern state of Turkey in 1923 under the so-called
"Law of Abandoned Properties". Such a Law confiscating properties of
Genocide Victims, or of Victims of other Crimes against Humanity, is not
recognised by any international body.
On the same leaflet were calls for the Immigration Minister Phill Woolas
to be dismissed after the deportation of two girls who had arrived in
Heathrow on the 18th and 25th May from the Welsh community in Chbut
province, Patagonia in Argentina. They were on their way to Wales to
visit family and to improve their Welsh languyage skills
The response of passing MPs was quite poor.
Banners were also held up at the Home Office protesting at the
deportations. Welsh hymns were played on a loudspeaker from a car in
front of the Home Office, 10 Downing Street and the entrance to
parliament. The posters on the car read "HALT THE DEPORTATIONS OF WELSH
PATAGONIANS"
The director of Armenia Solidarity was stopped twice under section
44 of the prevention of terrorrism act. The police interpreted the
playing of Welsh Hymns as "an unpermitted protest". When Mr Eilian
Williams challenged the police on which crime he had committed, he was
told he would be charged with "noise pollution". Eventually, he was
arrested, handcuffed and detained for four hours. When it became that Mr
Williams had a clean record, the police allowed his release with a
£30 fine for obstructing the entrance to Parliament
This was , we believe, a worthwhile excercise in campaigning
simultaneously on two issues of concern to Welsh people and Armenians
alike. The leaflet given to passing MPs is shown below.
TWO URGENT APPEAL TO MPs
1 EDM 1588 on HISTORIC TREATMENT OF MINORITIES IN TURKEY 03.06.2009
Dismore, Andrew
Dear Sirs, Madames,
The truth of the Armenian Genocide has now been set in stone in a
beautiful National Monument in Cardiff. It has been affirmed by the
First Minister (in 2001)and Presiding Officer (in 2007)of the National
Assembly of Wales, and by the majority of Assembly Members (in 2002).
Also 200 MPs have signed EDMs affirming the truth of the Genocide of
Armenians and Assyrians at some time or other. (182 signing the EDM in
2007). Even the Turkish Prime Minister in May 2009 admitted the Ethnic
Cleansing of Turkey’s minorities. The UK government’s continued denial
of historical facts is a filthy stain on the good name of Labour Party
and Mr Brown’s Presbyterian conscience. It is interesting that all the
MPs recently tarnished in the expensess scandals were all known
denialists of the Armernian Genocide. We have good reason to believe
that Turkish bribery and pressure has been a factor in the refusal by
some MPs to stand up and be counted on the Genocide issue.
The imprtant issue now is what degree of Restitution can be obtained
dutring Turkey’s accession into the EU. The return of the the 2,000 plus
Armenian Assyrian and Syriac Churches (even though most of them are now
piles of rubble) would go a long way to heal the wounds of Armenians and
Assyrians. EDM 1588 . Whatever you wish to call the events of 1915, be
it Holocaust (as did two former Prime Ministers Lloyd George and
Churchill), New Crimes against Humanity and Civilisation ( British,
French and Rurrian governments in a joint statement in 1915,) or
Genocide (Raphael Lemkin the author of the UN Genocide Convention), the
degree of Restitution expected would not be altered by your choice of
words. I’m confident that the 182 MPs who stood up for the truth in
2007 will see this as a logical progression from the 2007 EDM
HISTORIC TREATMENT OF MINORITIES IN TURKEY
03.06.2009
Dismore, Andrew
That this House notes the statement by the Turkish Prime Minister
recognising that Turkey’s minorities have been ethnically cleansed;
calls on the Government also to recognise this fact; suggests that a
measure of restitution which could be made by the government of Turkey
to demonstrate its good intentions would be the return to the
jurisdiction of the respective Patriarchates the 2,000 Armenian,
Assyrian and Syriac churches and religious monuments which were
expropriated in 1923 by the Turkish State under the law of abandoned
properties following the events of the 1915 Genocide; and urges the
Government to make representations to Turkey to this effect.
2 We ask youto call for the Immigration Minister Mr Phill Woolas to
resign over the deportation of Welsh Patagonians
There has been widespread outrage in Wales at the deportation of Shirley
Edwards from Trevelin and Evelyn Calcabrini from Porth Madryn , both in
Chubut Provinnce in Patagonia on the 18th and 25th May respectively.
Argentine citizens are not normally required to have a visa to visit the
UK. Mr Woolas must carry the can for this and I urge you to call for his
sacking as well as to insist for compensation for the girls. They were
shabbily treated by the cruel thugs of the Border Agency and put on the
first plane back.
Now a concert in the tiny village of Nant Peris at the foot of
Snowdon has raised enough money to pay for airline tickets to bring
them back here. Many people who contributed to the fund were poor people.
The concert was our way of killing British xenophobia with Welsh
kindness. Cheques to the fund may be made payable to "Capel
Rehoboth-Cronfa Patagonia" and sent to my address below.
The reaction from everyone has been that the National Assembly for Wales
must be able to overrule the faceless officials of the Border Agency.
Wales must to some extent be able to control its own Borders
This was a crime against indigenous languages and peoples. The liberty
to welcome people to one’s home, to one’s country is a fundemental right
of nations, a right for which it is worth sacrificing and enduring
prison.
It seems that the UK government cares little for the feelings of
unimportant peoples like the Welsh and the Armenians. Turkish nationals
are treated more favourably than the Welsh Patagonians when applying for
visas and are even given free visas if they intend to start business in
the UK
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.From Wales-Armenia Solidarity,(supported by Nor Serount Cultural
Association) and the Patagonia Campaign
[email protected] Tel: 07718982732