GEOFFREY ROBERTSON LEGAL OPINION ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE REMAINED UNOPPOSED IN UK PARLIAMENT
/PanARMENIAN.Net/
15.12.2009 17:26 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On 14th December 2009, Geoffrey Robertson QC, in
a meeting organised by the British Armenian All Party Parliamentary
Group, developed the conclusions of his Legal Opinion into the Armenian
Genocide and the present Labour government’s ten-year campaign to
mislead parliament on this foreign policy and ethical issue. This
administration has continued to maintain that it has examined the
issue when it had not, that it sought expert opinion when none was
sought, and advances arguments for its policy that are demolished in
the Legal Opinion.
This was a momentous occasion for the cause of Armenian Genocide
Recognition in the British Parliament as Geoffrey Robertson QC`s "
Legal Opinion " regarding the Armenian Genocide and with reference to
Foreign and Commonwealth Office Documents, which showed "how British
Ministers , Parliamentarians and People have been misled by the
Government" Ambassador Vahe Gabrielyan ,in his introductory Address,
emphasized the importance of this Report which proves the reluctance of
the British Government to recognize the Armenian Genocide "not because
of lack of proof but merely because of political inexpediency" and
affirmed the determination of the Armenian Government who ," although
engaged in the recent normalization of Armenian-Turkish Relations ,
will not sacrifice the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian
Genocide ".He said that " recognition by Turkey will continue to be
an objective for all Armenians and this cannot and should not hinder
building relations between the two countries"
Following His Excellency`s Address, Baroness Cox ( chair BAAPPG )
introduced the Speaker who presented his findings about the coordinated
policies of past and present British Governments to mislead and
deceive its Ministers , Parliamentarians and People .
After Mr Robertson`s Presentation, Baroness Cox read some extracts
of letters received,as early as 1994, from past and present British
Governments who have denied the Armenian Genocide, presented few
paragraphs from the Statement Issued by the 126 Historians who have
confirmed the veracity of that Genocide and from some letters of
Dignitaries and Parliamentarians who have supported that Motion.
In 2008, the Armenian Legal Initiative Group ( ALIG) set-up a Fund and
commissioned Mr Geoffrey Robertson QC to reach its own independent
conclusions on all legal and factual issues regarding the Armenian
Genocide .Mr Robertson advised that an application should be made
to obtain and extract all the important and secret policy documents
which have informed the UK government`s position .
Mr Robertson’s Legal Opinion published by Doughty Street Chambers
will serve as a case study of how easily government policy can be
manipulated by a Foreign Office that has abandoned the "ethical
dimension " in favour of what it thinks will be commercial and
diplomatic advantage .
The publication , entitled "Was there an Armenian Genocide" has
been sent to Cabinet Ministers , Parliamentarians ( in both Houses
of Parliament), Diplomats , Historians , Scholars , the Media , the
Think-Thank organisations , the Lords Spiritual and the "Judiciary" .
Of the 40 Senior Jurists who have received the "Legal Opinion" and
are Members of both Houses of Parliament (including three Cabinet
Ministers) not one came to challenge it .
Today we can legitimately claim that the British Government has failed
to rise to the challenge of defending its policy of collusion with
the Turkish State`s Denial of its criminal past.