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Tuesday 13 May 2008

Queen's state visit to Turkey: "a seal of approval"?

BBC reports that "The Queen and Prince Philip are travelling to Turkey for a four-day state visit, their first to the country since 1971. During the trip, they will lay a wreath at the tomb of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern, secular Turkey. They will also be guests at a state banquet hosted by President Abdullah Gul and his wife Hayrunnisa. [...] Later in the trip, they will visit the western city of Bursa and will tour a school in Istanbul which has links with UK students. The royal visit highlights the importance of Britain's relationship with Turkey. Britain is a strong supporter of Turkey's attempts to join the EU. The country became an official candidate in 1999 and entered formal accession negotiations in 2005. "

One of the questions addressed at The Armenian Genocide Day Conference, held in the House of Commons, the UK Houses of Parliament, 24th April 2008, was the following:


  • Will the planned state visit by HM the Queen to Turkey in May be a seal of approval on the Turkish government's distortion of the truth of the genocide, and the continuing cultural genocide in Turkey?

Below is an excerpt from the paper “The Armenian, Assyrian, Greek, Kurdish and 'Other' Genocides: The Politics of Genocide Recognition and Denialism” - by Desmond Fernandes, author of The Kurdish and Armenian Genocides: From Censorship and Denial to Recognition? (Apec Press, Stockholm, 2007) - presented at the Conference:

If we ask ourselves the question:

Will the planned state visit by HM the Queen to Turkey in May be a seal of approval on the Turkish government's distortion of the truth of the genocide, and the continuing cultural genocide in Turkey?

It very much will, in my opinion, depend upon the nature of the visit, and the statements and endorsements that will accompany that visit (relating to what is said or unsaid concerning the Turkish state's ongoing and past genocidal record, and its and the UK government's continuing Armenian/Assyrian/Greek/Kurdish genocide denialist position). The Queen and those in her entourage and the UK government should also reflect upon the Turkish Human Rights Association's observations on Armenian Genocide Recognition day in 2006, which remain relevant today:

"Turkey has made hardly any progress in the field of co-existence, democracy, human rights and putting an end to militarism since the time of the Union and Progress Committee. Annihilation and denial had been, and continues today, to be the only means to solve the problem ... Today’s ongoing military build up of some 250,000 troops in the [Kurdish] southeast of Turkey is the proof of a mindset wh[ich] is unable to develop any solution to the Kurdish question other than armed suppression."

*photo - via BBC

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's one more proof of the fact which had been exposed by Johnny Rotten (God rest his soul):
UK is a fascist regime, and there's no future for the queen

artmika said...

I am curious as to why "God rest his soul"? Johnny Rotten of Sex Pistols is ALIVE!!!

As to the "fascist regime", while I cannot stand UK foreign policy in many areas, I must admit that living in London is anything but living "under fascist regime".

Anonymous said...

The first concentration camps were build by Brits (English) in today’s South Africa. They were built to imprison the Boer and the local populations. This was in 1900.
Boer men were exiled to other parts of the British Empire while women and children were sent to concentration camps.
So no wonder that why the British government never recognises the Armenian Genocide. They have set the precedent. How many other nations have they massacred? We don’t even know their names.

The term “Concentration camp" came from the English at the end of the 2nd Boer War.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War

Coming to London, What else is the presence of the CCTV and the other big brother tactics than fascism? You Oyster card and the CCTV cameras are good enough to track down every step you make. If not a fascism it is definitely a police state.

As for a queen, it is waste of the taxpayer money. But brings in lots of tourists :) So it maybe a good thing to have such a tourist attraction.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I guess it was Sid Vicious who's dead.
sorry about that.
Anonymous who doesn't know the history of punk well enough

Anonymous said...

cont.
But frankly, before talking seriously about fascism or police state in Britain or in US or anywhere else in the world, one should come to Armenia and spend a couple of months there

Anonymous said...

I would say that many in the North of Ireland, and in the 26 counties in the Republic, would label 600 years of British rule to be less than democratic...more like bordering on colonialist than anything else.

Anonymous said...

Most Historians would not concur with boer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andersonville_prison

The Andersonville Prison opened in 1864 is regarded as the first concentration camp. The American Civil War, was the origin of most aspects of modern warfare. including submarines!