Over the past year, a group of British MPs and peers have been considering allegations made by the Turkish Parliament (TGNA) that Great Britain was responsible for articulating the Armenian Genocide thesis; that this thesis was a wartime propaganda fabrication published in the British Parliamentary Blue Book series in 1916 (The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire 1915-16); and that??the British Parliament today should rescind that report.
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A group of British MPs and peers who looked at these allegations disagreed with the Turkish position and invited the latter to a face-to-face discussion. To date, Turkish Parliamentarians have avoided any such discussion with their British counterparts.
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Earlier today, the Gomidas Institute (
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In a press statement, Lord Avebury, Vice-Chair of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group, stated:
“I very much regret the failure of every one of the 550 MPs of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) to reply to an invitation to discuss the events of 1915-16, in which a million and a half Armenian subjects of the
“Following a Letter from the TGNA to the British Parliament challenging the veracity of the evidence published by the British Government in 1916 in the Blue Book 'The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire 1915-16', a group of MPs and peers wrote proposing a dialogue between British and Turkish MPs, with academic experts on both sides, to examine the authenticity of that evidence.
“When no reply was received, I wrote to every Turkish MP individually, asking if they would be willing to participate in such a dialogue. Not a single one replied.
“Since neither the TGNA collectively, nor any of its Members, was ready to defend their position in an open and critical forum, it became obviously that they would not stand up to an intellectually rigorous examination. I believe the original Letter fromthe TGNA was an attempt to stimulate wider Turkish denialism, rather than to establish communication between Turkish and UK Parliamentarians which might have clarified interpretation of the events of 1915-16. But the invitation remains open, and I hope that by publishing this statement, I may yet prompt some Turkish MPs with the courage to engage in dialogue.”
Source: PRESS RELEASE by Gomidas Institute, 15 November 2006
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.gomidas.org
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The Gomidas Institute is an independent academic organisation dedicated to modern Armenian Studies
Read earlier press release on the same subject posted in Azad-Hye (dated 27 January 2006):
British Parliamentarians respond to Turkish colleagues on Armenian Genocide of 1915
