Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Turkey prepares for diplomatic row
by Richard Beeston, The Times - January 25 2001
Posted: Monday, January 29, 2001 01:43 am CST

BRITAIN runs the risk of a diplomatic split with Turkey after the Government's belated decision to invite an Armenian delegation to this weekend's Holocaust Memorial Day.

With only 48 hours to go before the Prince of Wales and the Prime Minister remember the millions who died in the worst atrocities of the past century, the event has become embroiled in controversy.

The Armenian question had already split Whitehall and now it threatens to damage important relations between London and Ankara.

Historians believe that up to 1.5 million Armenian civilians were killed in 1915. The Foreign Office accepts that the massacres took place, but insists that they do not qualify as genocide. Turkey has refused to acknowledge that there were any massacres of Armenian civilians, despite compelling evidence from the time.

The invitation to the Armenians to take part in an event alongside other victims of genocide is being regarded, therefore, as an important victory that could signal a change in British government policy.

Originally the Armenians were excluded from the ceremony on Saturday on the ground that it was intended only to commemorate events during and after the Second World War. Most of the ceremony will be dedicated to the memory of the six million Jews killed by Hitler. Speakers will also remember those who died in the genocides of Cambodia and Rwanda, and in the Balkans.

"We have to set some sort of limit to this event," a Home Office spokesman said. "The Second World War seemed to be the right place to start."

However, an angry response from Armenians and their influential supporters persuaded the Home Office to reconsider. In the past few days it has invited a delegation of about 20 Armenians, including two survivors of the 1915 massacres, Yerevant Shekerdenian and Anig Bodossian. Although invited as members of the "community" and not direct participants, there is little doubt that they will make their presence felt.

Such recognition is unlikely to pass without reaction from Turkey, particularly because it had been assured by the Foreign Office that the Armenians were being excluded.

Britain is concerned that it could become involved in a costly dispute, similar to the one being waged between Paris and Ankara. The French parliament passed a Bill this month recognising the 1915 massacres as genocide. Turkey responded by recalling its ambassador from Paris, cancelling a spy satellite contract with a French company and threatening to ban French companies from other government tenders.

Turkish officials said that they would be watching events in London closely and would respond accordingly.

Related Information...

Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News Archives