Majority of British MPs support Armenian Genocide motion

13:57 / 03/24/2010
“UK Justice Minister, the ‘Man of Straw’ appeases Turkish Prime Minister who proposes to deport 100,000 Armenians from Turkey,” reads the press release by Wales-based “Armenia Solidarity” NGO. NEWS.am posts the full text.
“Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan used his recent visit to London to threaten 100,000 Armenians in Turkey with collective deportation in order to make a political point on the 1915 Genocide. That a government of a candidate to join the EU might propose the forced collective expulsion from its territory of a specified nationality ought to be unthinkable in the 21st century. Yet that course was casually advanced on 16th March by the Turkish Prime Minister, against Armenian migrants, many of them grand-children of Armenian Genocide survivors deported during 1915-23 from their homeland.
The visit came a few weeks before debate scheduled in the House of Lords (29 March) initiated by Baroness Cox asking the British government to reconsider its stance on the Armenian Genocide, and in the House of Commons (30th April) to consider an Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day proposed by Andrew Dismore MP.
The response of Justice Minister Jack Straw on Tuesday 16th March defies belief in its naivety and cynicism. He suppressed any comment on the threats of deportations that would befit a cabinet minister of a Western democracy with any claim to ethical standards. He then presumed the outcome of the House of Commons bill by assuring Turkey's prime minister that the UK Parliament would not pass a resolution commemorating the Ottoman-era killings of Armenians as genocide, (CNNTurk reports).
”The chance of this becoming law is zero," Straw said, (according to CNNTurk website). “I can assure everyone on this issue.” “Even If it is approved, an Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day will not be established in the country.” “The English government and the opposition do not support this draft,” Straw said.
What Straw failed to mention is that a majority of Labour MPs support the motion, as well as a majority of all MPs who are eligible to express their opinions freely. This is known from signatures to previous Early Day Motions recognizing the Genocide. Sources close to the government say that the Cabinet is much divided on the issue. Even the Foreign & Commonwealth Office describe the behavior of the Turkish government as “neuralgic”, yet a British minister can only comfort a government with such a frame of mind. The contrast between the US and Swedish fortitude and the Man of Straw's pliability could not be starker.
The Justice Minister apparently is prepared to ignore the recent legal opinion of Geoffrey Robertson QC as well as the collective view of the International Association of Genocide Scholars and the pronouncement of the presidents of the International Network of Genocide Scholars.
We appeal to MPs and Peers to put pressure on the Prime Minister to clearly repudiate the disreputable statement of the Justice Minister and to reprimand him for Armenian Holocaust Denial. We know of course that this was not simply a faux-pas, as Mr Straw's is influenced by the Turkish embassy in the UK (source: FCO) and a strong pro-Turkish Israeli lobby in Parliament (source: Channel 4).
Another of Straw’s outrageous comments was “Our biggest mistake after the First World War was to dismember the Ottoman Empire” ignoring the death and destruction of entire ethnic groups in the Empire at that time.
Anyone of any decency, let alone a government minister, should better understand the consequences of genocide denial. Not confronting the truth ensures that the old problems fester and make the resolution of current relationship issues between Turkey and Armenia even more difficult. Relationships between countries and peoples cannot be built on lies.
Trying to change history by denial inevitably means that the lessons being promoted for example through Holocaust Memorial Day cannot prevent future atrocities.
In addition, not less important is the fact that Mr. Straw dishonors the memories of the civilian victims of 1915.
The possible date of an election, 6 May, will play into Jack Straw’s hands as the bill may not complete its parliamentary course. This could mean that his deplorable behavior stands as the official stance of this country, and that clearly is unacceptable. Parliament should assert itself unequivocally to reverse this gift to Turkish propaganda that is already being deployed. In so doing, Parliament should have due regard to the original British Government position in 1915 on the genocide, a “Crime against Humanity and Civilization,” and “Holocaust” in the words of David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill, Their first opportunity for Parliament to remove the stain of Genocide Denial will be a positive response in the Genocide debate in the House of Lords on the 29th March.
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