British MPs Defend Genocide Book

Monday, January 30, 2006
zaman.com
By Selcuk Gultasli, Brussels

The House of Lords and the House of Commons, in an unofficial reply to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM), wanted the letter written on 28 April 2005 to be retracted.

In the response letter, which was "unofficial" due to a rejection of the head of the British Parliament to intervene, the TBMM was asked to host a conference on the issue. The letter, which was sent to Turkish Parliamentary Speaker Bulent Arinc and the Turkish Embassy in London on January 26, was signed by 20 members of the House of Lords and 13 members of the House of Commons. Lord Avebury, campaigning for the letter to be published, told Zaman the letter was not attached an "official" label despite all their efforts.

According to the explanation released by Lord Avebury's office on January 26, the letter sent by the TBMM on April 28 was responding to six items. According to the reply letter:

The "Blue Book" was written by Arnold Toynbee and based on the testimony of people who witnessed the events.

The documents supporting the book can easily be accessed; however, this detail was ignored in the Assembly’s letter. Arnold Toynbee did not say the Blue Book was flawed as claimed in the letter.

The letter claims the only source used in the book was the British 'War Propaganda Bureau'. This is not true. There are hundreds of impartial consulate officials and missionaries verifying the events at the time.
Reports of the impartial have been supported by German and American diplomatic correspondence.

The testimony of people, published in Blue Book, was not found in any documents of a nearby war propaganda bureau. These events have long been known and have been published for years.

The unofficial reply of the Houses of Lords and Commons claimed the TBMM has been misinformed about the issue and the parliament’s letter does not reflect the opinions of the Turkish academicians acquainted with the issue. The letter, inviting the TBMM to hold a round-table conference on the issue, seems to have been written with utmost care. The reply ends with a call for the TBMM to retract its letter dated April 28.
[...]
Avebury, reminding that Armenian President Robert Kocaryan rejected theTurkish prime minister's proposal to discuss the issue, said:" naturally, you can't accept it if you are under pressure. Turkey should first remove the embargo on Armenia. Only after that time, such proposals can be meaningful". Lord Avebury was also asked what their response would be if Turkey refuses to retract the letter. "First we expect Turkey to accept our round table offer and then, according to Turkey's attitude, we will decide on the next step,” Avebury replied.

Ara Sarafian, the Armenian and an Archive Historian and editor of the new edition of the Blue Book, told Zaman that if Turkey does not retreat from the Blue Book issue, Britain will handle it at an official level and will react to Ankara's discontent.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.