Commemorative March, Laying of Wreath and Presentation of Petition to Prime Minister Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street - 24 April, 2004
The Commemorative March this year was attended by almost one thousand marchers. The march assembled at the Marble Arch (Hyde Park Corner) and proceeded along Park Lane, then along Piccadilly to Piccadilly Circus. From there to Trafalgar Square and along Whitehall to The Cenotaph - near the Houses of Parliament and only a few yards from 10 Downing Street.
At the Cenotaph there was a short Solemn Ceremony and a Wreath was laid by Mr Raffi Sarkissian (Chairman of Campaign for Recognition of the Armenian Genocide) and Mr Ara Palamoudian (Chairman of the Armenian Community & Church Council of Great Britain).
The Reverend Shnork Baghdassarian said the Prayers. Present were also Dr Harry Hagopian - Executive Director of CRAG, and the Chairman of the Executive Council of the ACCC, Mr. Souren Saroukhanoff - representing the Community's various Sub-Committees including the Church Committee, Youth & Culture Committee and the Ladies Committee. Immediately after the Wreath Laying Ceremony, the official party proceeded to 10 Downing Street where they handed in a Petition for the attention of the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair.
CRAG is a Committee within the Armenian Community & Church Council structure and organises the Commemorative events on behalf of the Community of Great Britain.
Petition handed to 10 Downing Street by CRAG - Campaign for Recognition of the Armenian Genocide : The Rt Hon Tony Blair, MP, Prime Minister, 10 Downing Street, London SW1A 2AA - 24 April 2004
Dear Prime Minister:
Once again, the Armenians world-wide mark this year the blackest day in their 3000-year-old history.
On this day, in 1915, the Ottoman Turks began the 20th century's first state-planned and state-executed genocide, during which 1.5-million Armenians were killed, and more than 700,000 were "ethnically cleansed" from their homeland.
And once again, the Armenian Community in the United Kingdom calls upon you to acknowledge the historical fact of the Armenian Genocide, and once and for all set this matter to rest by stating - as previous British politicians and British historians have done in the past - state that the events of the years following 1915 were, indeed, a "genocide."
As you would recall, the British government was the first to call the attention of the world to what was happening to the Armenians in 1915, and as you would also recall, that the British archives are probably only second to those of the United States in the evidence supporting the claim of "genocide."
The 89th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide comes during a month when the prestigious New York Times changed its editorial policy by accepting the term 'genocide' in all its forthcoming publications. This same Armenian Genocide also coincides with the week when Canada passed a resolution by a big majority through the House of Commons that recognises this human aberration during WWI.
The Armenians of this country therefore call upon their own British Government to exhibit the same political fortitude as the French, Swiss and many other Governments and Parliaments world-wide that have recognised this first genocide of the 20th century. After all, hundreds of genocide scholars world-wide have stated unequivocally and repeatedly that there was an Armenian Genocide.
Prime Minister, on behalf of the Armenian British community, I thank you for your time and attention, and hope that the voice of this community will at long last be heard in the corridors of our own House of Commons in the United Kingdom just as it was in those of Canada.
Yours Sincerely - Raffi Sarkissian - Chair