Azg Daily, Armenia
April 7 2010
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE BRITISH-ARMENIAN ALL-PARTY PARLIAMENTARY GROUP
A "Short debate " which lasted one hour took place on Monday 29th
March 2010 in the Grand Committee Room of the House of Lords – British
Parliament – following the Question tabled by the Baroness Cox of
Queensbury asking the British Government "whether they will reconsider
their position with regard to the recognition as genocide of the
events in Armenia from 1915 to 1917".
Baroness Cox started the proceedings by declaring her interest as "
Chairman of the British-Armenian All-Party Parliamentary Group "and
continued by presenting a forceful , well-documented and convincing
argumentation validating that recognition . Lord Avebury (Vice-Chair
BAAPPG) supported the motion, argued for the "authenticity of the Blue
Book " which now the British government classifies as " war
propaganda" and asked the Minister ` in this case Baroness Kinnock
representing the government ` to " help open a dialogue between
British and Turkish parliamentarians for an appraisal of the events of
1915-16" . Lord Hylton ( Member BAAPPG ) suggested that Turkey should
recognise the genocide for " honour to be satisfied"and suggested that
" the current clamour has already harmed the détente that was
beginning between Turkey and Armenia ¦ " and Baroness Rawlings-
supporting the motion although not using the word " genocide" –
deplored " the massacres of up to one and half million Armenians" and
referring to the recent Turkish-Armenian relations asked accurate and
pertinent questions.
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass in his negative attempts said "Turkey has
guarded Europe’s freedom and we must not alienate further our Turkish
friends". Lord Kilclooney reduced the genocide to " a conflict between
Christians and Muslims", and said" it would be better not to support
the Motion". Lord Waverley ( who recently on behalf of the Azerbaijani
government was attempting to found a British-Nagorno Karabagh
Parliamentary Group) reminded the floor that "Turkey has made an
accord with Armenia, with a view to friendship" and Lord Wallace of
Saltaire revealed that -in India -"Britain’s hands too were not clean
of massacres " , deplored the faith of the Armenians , said" now we
have the least bad Turkish Government that we have had in my lifetime"
, sympathised with the present Turkish government who has to deal with
" the deep state, the secularists, the judiciary and the army ¦ and is
caught between Azerbaijan and Armenia" " and concluded by recommending
support for rapproachement and " better relations".
Baroness Kinnock expressed the British government’s" regrets " ,
praised the signing of the recent Protocols between Turkey and
Armenia, and presented its reasons for not labelling these massacres
genocide : " genocide is a precise term and its use is best assessed
by a competent court"¦ "there is no court with the authority to make
such an asessment" ¦ , she refused the BAAPPG’s request to send a
representative to the Genocide Commemoration Events and said " sending
a government representative might suggest recognition " ¦ " Ministers
, not officials , are responsible for the statements they make to
Parliament "
Replying to Baroness Cox and referring to the latest adoptions and
resolutions regarding the Armenian genocide in the US Congress and the
Swedish Parliament , she said " those have not changed the UK
government’s views" .. and .."neither the US nor the Swedish
government has changed its position as a result of these votes"
Responding to Lord Avebury she said " our Embassy in Ankara can
certainly assist in passing on a letter from UK parliamentarians to
their Turkish counterparts inviting dialogue over the validity of the
Blue Book", deplored the negative response received from Turkish
parliamentarians and recommended "reconciliation which we all want" .
Regarding the threats made recently by the Turkish government to
deport over 100.000 Armenians from Turkey , she said " there is no
immediate plan to deport illegal Armenian immigrants " ¦ Turkey does
not discriminate against Armenians working in Turkey " ¦comments made
to us by Turkish politicians have underlined the tolerance shown by
Turkey towards migrants" ¦ and " it is for the Turkish government to
manage migration issues in line with their international obligations".
On EU membership she said " the issue ( she did not use the word
genocide ) is not a precondition for membership" .. but Turkey must
maintain what is called a good neighbourly relation with countries in
the region , including Armenia".
She referred to Karabagh by mentioning the Minsk Group and revealed
that Chris Bryant , Minister for Europe , has " lobbied his ( Turkish
) counterpart to encourage progress in the normalisation of relations
with Armenia".
Responding to Baroness Rawlings questions and pointing to the little
time left for Debate , she promised to " give her a written answer as
soon as possible" and said that " politically the UK Government
continues to urge both the Armenian and Turkish governments to move
forward with the normalisation process and to find ways to reconcile
their differences"¦and said " in-country, our ambassadors are engaged
on the issues".
The British-Armenian All-Party Parliamentary Group
The minutes of these parliamentary proceedings can be obtained by
logging "Hansards " on the Web and accessing the page for Monday 29th
March 2010.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress