From: TADA –FEYM Working Group
To: Members of the House of Commons
Honorable Members of the House of Commons:
Subject: House of Commons Debate Issue (Vol. 703)
As the members of TADA – FEYM Working Group, we represent a group of Turkish Citizens and American, British, Swiss Citizens of Turkish origin who work to defend our forefathers’ legacy. We strive to defend the Turkish nation against the Armenians’ and Armenia’s supporters’ claims of “genocide,” which are all contrary to historical facts.
It is now public knowledge that Mr. Tim Loughton, MP (Conservative) put forward a Bill on 9 November 2021 demanding the recognition of “hardships experienced by Armenians in Eastern Anatolia during World War I” as “genocide”. Due to this development, we are writing to you to present you with some facts.
The UK’s own archival records, Malta Tribunal documents in particular, are among most credible reference sources regarding what happened in Eastern Anatolia during World War I.
Officially held at the British Foreign Office National Archives, these records are free from bias and backed up by first-hand facts, data, and evidence. They do depict the tragedies of war but offer no proof for a genocide.
The British Foreign Office documents show that the Malta Tribunal (1919-1921), conducted by Britain’s highest legal prosecution authority, Her/His Majesty’s Attorney (Prosecutor) General for England and Wales in London, was dismissed with a judgement stating that “with the evidence in hand, none of the Turks prisoned in Malta could be prosecuted on grounds of the (alleged) Armenian massacres.” […]
The charges made against the Turks named in the Foreign Office list were “of quasi-political character” and no statements had been taken from witnesses who can testify to the truth of the charges made against the prisoners. Without the production of sufficient evidence which could be admissible before an English Court of Justice, it was deemed improbable that the charges made against the accused (Ottoman dignitaries) could be sustained in a Court of Law. The same Court also found that these Ottoman dignitaries did not commit any “planned or premeditated massacres” against the Ottoman Armenian minorities.
With the verdict of the Malta Tribunal being thus, it goes without question that the British Attorney General’s final ruling of July 29, 1921, corresponded to a “judgement of non-prosecution,” which means, “there is no legal evidence to support the Armenian massacre claims, so there is no legal basis to file or bring a lawsuit.”
Malta Tribunals present us with the historical and judicial fact that the Armenian allegations cannot be given any credit.
However, these discredited opinions unfortunately keep getting brought up by prejudiced political or legislative bodies. Armenian allegations are habitually led by religious, racial, and surely political prejudices. Particularly, religion-based prejudices have turned the Armenian allegations to some sort of a one-sided pro-Christian horror story.
Prejudices are symptoms of a diseased political culture – in fact, a political culture that threatens the very concept of politics itself. In addition, using prejudicial views for political leverage poses a grave threat to democracy.
We believe, prejudices cannot and should not guide the House of Commons. Britain is widely considered as the leading democracy in Europe. No other country has such a unique history with democracy compared with that of your country.
Being a country that knows best what happened in Eastern Anatolia during World War I, Britain has held till now, with realism and above all, with integrity and credibility, that the events of 1915-1916 did not amount to a genocide. This was simply because the “genocide charge” did not meet the historical and legal standards and requirements to call it as such.
Accordingly, British Spokesperson of Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale rejected a previous demand of such nature in a speech dated 14 April 1999 delivered on behalf of the British Government: “[…] In the absence of unequivocal evidence to show that the Ottoman Administration took a specific decision to eliminate the Armenians under their control at the time, British governments have not recognized the events of 1915 and 1916 as ‘genocide. […] We do not believe it is the business of governments today to review events of over 80 years ago with a view to pronouncing on them… These are matters of legal and historical debate.”
We have been under the impression for long that Baroness Ramsey of Cartvale’s position on this issue reflected the official stance of the British Government, and that this position was not subject to change in any shape or form.
However, the Armenian “genocide lobby” has kept maintaining their pressure, which ultimately resulted in Armenian genocide allegations being addressed during a Holocaust commemoration ceremony held in London on 27 January 2001.
In a press conference held in Ankara on 22 January 2001, Britain’s Beverley Hughes - then Parliamentary Undersecretary of State in the Department of the Environment, Transport, and the Regions- stated that only the Holocaust itself would be addressed during the ceremony and made the following historical declaration in Istanbul: “A while ago, the British government reviewed evidence put forth on the Armenian allegations and examined documents on the events of 1915-1916. The decision is that these events do not correspond to what is defined as genocide by the UN. This is the attitude of the British government, and this will never change.”
In response to a question earlier on this matter, then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Baroness Scotland told the House of Lords on 7 February 2001: “The Government, in line with previous British Governments, have judged the evidence relating to events in Eastern Anatolia in 1915-1916 not to be sufficiently unequivocal to persuade us that these events should be categorized as genocide as defined by the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.”
Mr. Tim Loughton’s Bill, besides ignoring all these officially archived historical and judicial facts, is also undermining the United Kingdom’s highest legal prosecution authority. Prosecutor General’s judicial decision cannot be replaced by political prejudices.
Consequently, every dignified honorable member of the House of Commons, in her/his capacity as a leader and influencer, has the greatest historical and ethical responsibility to eliminate racism, hate, and injustice from their decisions. This means that the honorable members need to cross-examine the proposed genocide resolution and dismiss it at once; for it is rooted in religious, racial, and political prejudices.
We are sure, if the UK archival records are learned, unlearned, and re-learned, this will be a crucial chance to find where the truth lies on the tragic events that took place during World War I in Eastern Anatolia.
As we conclude our letter, we would like to present a few more things to your high attention: The title of a book by French Historian Prof. Yves Benard is as follows: “Genocide Armenien, et si on nous avait menti? - “Armenian Genocide, what if we had been lied to?”
Also, Bruce Fein, a lawyer from USA who specializes in international law and matters of genocide says: “According to the UN 1948 convention, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has jurisdiction over matters of genocide. If the Armenian side could prove that it was a genocide, why would they not submit their case to ICC for a judicial review?”
Finally, we would like to stress that:
(a) In 2003 the European Union’s Court of First Instance (“General Court”) ruled that the “Armenian genocide” resolution passed by the European Parliament in 1987 was purely a political act. The ruling was confirmed on appeal in 2014. This decision underscores the political nature of such decisions.
(b) The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled, in its 2013 lower chamber decision, later confirmed by the Grand Chamber in 2015 on appeal, that “Armenian genocide,” being a controversial issue among scholars, remains unproven.
(c) In 2016 France’s Constitutional Council, while making a distinction between the 1915 events and Holocaust, underlined that governments and parliaments have no authority to judge genocide. The UN to date has not recognized “Armenian genocide,” and unlike in the case the Rwandan, Srebrenica and Cambodia genocides, there is no determination by a competent tribunal regarding “Armenian genocide.”
Respectfully yours,
SIGNATORIES
CO-CHAIRMEN OF TADA – FEYM WORKING GROUP
TAN Orhan, Retired Major General, Chairman of FEYM Group
KARA Uğur, President of Turkish Anti-Defamation Alliance (TADA)
MEMBERS OF TADA - FEYM WORKING GROUP
ATUN Ata, Prof. Dr., Dean of Cyprus Science University
AYDEMİR Selahattin, Prof. Dr., Member of FEYM Group
BAŞSOY Ülkü, Retired Ambassador
GURKAN Uluç, Political Lecturer
KAPLUN Sevil, Sworn Translator
KIRLIKOVALI, Ergun, PhD, Member of FEYM Group
KORKMAZ Serkan, Secretary General FEYM Group, PhD, International Public Law
NELSON Betula, Retired Lecturer, Member of Ataturk Society UK
OKTAY Sevgin, Co-Founder & Past President of TADA
ORNARLI Fuat, P.E. Civil Engineer, Member of FEYM Group
OZER Jale, Swailes Chairperson, Ataturk Society of UK
SAYGILI Necati, Chemical Engineer
SERBEST Emre, Naval Architect and Marine Eng, Vice President of TADA
ŞEMİN Fikret, Retired Company Executive
TAŞÇIOĞLU Omer Lutfi, Assoc. Prof. International Relations
YUCEL Emre, PhD in Pharmacy, Member of TADA
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