Abbat-watt Owned!

[Vigil]

ArmenPress

March 16 2004

 

CHAIRPERSON OF WORKING GROUP RECOGNITION - AGAINST GENOCIDE, FOR

INTERNATIONAL UNDERSTANDING ADDRESSES LETTER TO SECRETARY OF STATE

FOR FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

 

YEREVAN, MARCH 16, ARMENPRESS: Dr. Tessa Hofmann, the chairperson

of Working Group Recognition - Against Genocide, For International

Understanding, addressed a letter to the Secretary of State for

Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom Mr. Jack

Straw. Referring to the interview of Mrs. Thorda Abbott-Watt, the

ambassador of the United Kingdom in Armenia, in which the ambassador

stated that the case of the Armenian Genocide did not correspond with

the UN Genocide Convention, Tessa Hofman stated that "Mrs.

Abbott-Watt is wrong in doubting that this case did not correspond

the UN Genocide Convention."

"She may not know that the author of this convention Mr. Raphael

Lemkin, drafted it on the empirical base of both the Armenian and the

Jewish Genocide as case studies during the World War I and World War

II. Mr. Abbot-Watt may also be ignorant of the joint statement of May

27, 1915, in which the governments of Britain, France and Russia

warned the Ottoman government to held its members personally

responsible for the crimes committed on the Armenian citizens of the

Ottoman Empire. In this statement the killings of the Armenian

population were categorized, under the terms of contemporary law, as

a crime against humanity and civilization".

The letter also says that "Mrs. Abbot-Watt is obviously not

qualified as a scholar of genocide research. Otherwise she would know

that the denial of genocide is considered as an integral part of the

crime and its final stage. Sadly, Mrs. Abbott-Watt herself

contributes to the crime of denial, thus keeping painfully alive the

trauma of the Armenian nation and upsetting all others, who are aware

of the consequences of genocide denial".

Dr. Tessa Hofmann also stressed that "as an international NGO,

which is focusing on the recognition of denied genocide crimes, we

will urge you to re-consider whether it is advisable that Mrs.

Abbott-Watt, who is ignorant of basic facts of legal history and

international relations and who makes repeated incompetent and

offensive statements, may continue her diplomatic career in a

country, where half of the population descends from survivors of

genocide".

Edited May 31, 2004 by Vigil