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British Armenian Community Commemorates 90th Anniversary

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  • British Armenian Community Commemorates 90th Anniversary

    PRESS RELEASE
    Campaign for Recognition of the Armenian Genocide
    Tel: 020-874-71465
    E-mail: [email protected]
    Web: http://www.crag.org.uk/


    ARMENIAN COMMUNITY COMES TOGETHER TO COMMEMORATE 90TH ANNIVERSARY OF
    THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE - 25 April 2005

    http://www.crag.org.uk/90thcom/90anniv6.html

    Community Event at Ealing Town Hall on Friday evening, Divine Liturgy
    and Requiem Service St Yeghiche Church on Sunday, March from South
    Kensington to the Cenotaph via Vigil at the Turkish Embassy and
    Memorial Service at the Cenotaph


    The two guest speakers at the Community Event on Friday evening were
    the Deputy-Mayor of Ealing Borough of London, Councillor Michael
    Elliott , and Stephen Pound, MP for Ealing North . Both expressed
    their strong support for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide in
    the UK and vowed to lend their support toward the recognition of the
    genocide perpetrated by Ottoman Turkey against Armenians in 1915 under
    cover of WWI.

    Councillor Michael Elliott , who becomes Mayor of Ealing in summer,
    pledged his effort in trying to help pass a Motion in the Council for
    the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Stephen Pound also
    re-iterated that it was his duty to be with the Armenians as they
    commemorated the 90 th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. He
    predicted that the tide is turning against Turkey's denialist stance
    and referred to a letter from the Turkish Parliament in Ankara that
    cast doubt over the Blue Book authored by Arnold Toynbee and Lord
    James Bryce. He said to the 500-person full hall that he replied to
    the letter by stressing that he had heard far too many accounts from
    Armenians of their own families' experiences of the genocide to even
    consider such a denialist letter.

    Also speaking at the Community event were the Chair of the Armenian
    Community and Church Council, the Primate of the Armenian Apostolic
    Church and the Chair of the Committee for the Commemoration of the 90
    th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. All three referred to the
    trauma of the genocide and asked the British Government to put its
    interests aside and join the increasing number of countries that have
    recognised the Armenian Genocide to date.

    At the Church Service at St Yeghiche, representatives from the
    Anglican , Catholic and Orthodox Churches read out Messages of Support
    with the Armenian Church and people. Speaking to a full Church of well
    over 750 people, they expressed their solidarity with Armenians who,
    alongside other communities,had faced genocide in 1915.

    The Commemorative March that followed the church service saw well over
    1200 Armenians and non-Armenians walking with posters together toward
    the Cenotaph where a wreath-laying ceremony took place in memory of
    the one-and-half-million Armenians who were killed during the Armenian
    Genocide. Led by the Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the
    Chair of the Armenian Community & Church Council as well as other
    dignitaries, the March delivered a powerful message of vigilance and
    non-forgetfulness for the events of 1915. It asked the British
    Government and Turkey to come clean on this travesty to justice so
    that Never again means anything for the future.

    The key speaker at the Cenotaph was Dr Charles Tannock , Conservative
    MEP for London and Vice-Chairman of the Human Rights Sub-Committee at
    the European Parliament . He explained how he had come to learn about
    the Armenian Genocide, and how this had helped him become a firm
    supporter of the justice of the Armenian cause. He pledged his
    unwavering support on both the British and European levels in helping
    Armenians secure recognition of the genocide in the UK and on the
    European level.

    This weekend was the highlight of a yearlong series of commemorative
    events that have been planned in the United Kingdom - in London as
    much as in Wales and Scotland. Following in the footsteps of countries
    such as France, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, Russia, Greece, the Holy
    See, the Netherlands, Belgiumand Cyprus, Armenians in the UK are
    insisting their Government and Parliament recognise the Armenian
    Genocide. Gwynedd County Council in Wales was the first local council
    to recognise the Armenian Genocide last year.
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