Armin Wegner exhibition in Cardiff
Jenny Randerson to open Wegner exhibition on the Armenian Genocide
Jenny Randerson AM, Liberal Democrat Member for Cardiff Central and Welsh Assembly Cabinet Minister for Culture, Sport and the Welsh Language will be opening the Armin Wegner exhibition on the Armenian Genocide of 1915 at the Temple of Peace (Welsh Centre for International Affairs) in Cardiff, on Monday 19th, 4:30pm.
Armin Wegner (b. Oct. 16th 1886) was a German national who served in the Ottoman Empire as a medical orderly under a German Field Marshal during WWI and witnessed the Armenian Genocide. He recorded much of what he saw in his diaries, letters and photographs. These materials have now been put together for an exhibition of the Armenian Genocide as seen through a German lens. The exhibition is composed of more than 100 images and text of the Armenian Genocide.
A true humanitarian, Wegner struggled for justice for Armenian survivors throughout his life. In the 1930s he also opposed the Nazi tide in Europe and was persecuted for it. He is the only individual honoured both on the Avenue of Righteous in Israel and the Armenian Genocide Monument in Yerevan (Armenia).
The British Government has not recognised the Armenian Genocide and, at Turkey's insistence denies its genocidal nature. This is in spite of the many governments, parliaments, NGOs and institutions that have recognised the Armenian Genocide and called on governments to do the same. In March of last year at an international conference, 126 Holocaust scholars signed a statement affirming the Armenian Genocide is an "incontestable historical fact and accordingly we urge the governments of Western democracies to recognise it as such". Signatures included Nobel Laureate for Peace Elie Wiesel and Prof. Israel Charney.
Turkey is the only country in the world that is a state-sponsored denier of genocide. The European Parliament has twice called on Turkey to accept it dark past as a step towards democratisation and modernisation. The British government has taken a different approach and allows Turkish denial to not get in the way of its bilateral relations. In September last year, the Turkish Government threatened to not allow British and American planes to use its airbases to patrol the Iraqi no fly zones if the U.S. House of Representatives recognised the Armenian Genocide. Fr. Yussuf Akbulut (an Christian Assyrian Priest) and Akin Birdal (Turkeys leading human-rights campaigner) are currently facing trial in Turkey and possible six years in prison for affirming the Armenian genocide
Last January, the British Government went even further by trying to exclude any mention of the Armenian Genocide from Britain's first Holocaust Memorial Day, which commemorated the Rwandan, Cambodian and Bosnian genocides as well as the Holocaust.
Welsh Liberal Democrats - Cardiff Central AM opens Armenian Genocide Exhibition at the Temple of peace
Jenny Randerson, Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for Cardiff Central (and Welsh cabinet minister for Culture, Media, Sport and the Welsh Language) will be opening the Armenian Genocide Exhibition at the Temple of Peace on Monday, 19th March at 4:30 p.m.
Having visited the two day exhibition at the Assembly, Jenny said:
"I was extremely moved by the exhibition and am honoured to be asked to open the exhibition at the Temple of Peace, which will run to the 24th April, being the date that the genocide started in 1915 and on which will be held a ceremony of remembrance.
"As a former history teacher, even I was not fully aware of the whole facts surrounding the first genocidal massacre of the 20th Century, which is not surprising in view of the UK Government's reluctance to recognise it as such.
"Unlike some of its other NATO partners, the UK and USA are operating a policy of denial on the Armenian Genocide and Keith Vas, the responsible Foreign Office Minister, has stated that "the government have judged that the evidence is sufficiently unequivocal to persuade us that the Armenian experience should be defined as genocide as defined by the 1948 UN Convention on Genocide". That denial resulted in the Home Office excluding the Armenian Genocide from Britain's first Holocaust Memorial Day on the 27th January this year.
"I wonder if Mr Vas has visited the exhibition or read the statements of former PMs, Foreign Ministers and academics?
"I believe that humanity should prevail over political and economic interests. We cannot change the past but we can, at least, accord it the respect it deserves. By admitting and recognising past wrong-doings, we can not only seek forgiveness but can also ensure that history is not repeated! Adolf Hitler, while persuading his associates that a Jewish holocaust would be tolerated by the west stated: "Who, after all, speaks today of the total annihilation of the Armenians?"