Genocide, Denial and the Right of Recognition
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ASSYRIAN GENOCIDE 1915 SEYFO Genocide, Denial and the Right of Recognition European Parliament Conference Monday 26th of March 2007 SEYFO CENTER ASSYRIAN GENOCIDE 1915 SEYFO Genocide, Denial and the Right of Recognition 2007 / 6757 SEYFO CENTER Dedicated to study , research and affirmation of the Assyrian Genocide For further information contact: Seyfo Center 12065 Eddleston Drive Porter Ranch CA 91326 USA www.seyfocenter.com [email protected] 4 CONTENTS Press Release ......................................................................................................................6 Foreword- SEYFO Center.....................................................................................................................7 Nicme Seven - Moderator.............................................................................................................8 Sabri Atman - SEYFO Center ..................................................................................................................10 Mechtild Rothe - (SPD, Germany) Vice President of the EP..........................................................................16 Eva-Britt Svenson - GUE/NGL (European United Left/Nordic Green Left).....................................................18 Markus Ferber - EVP- ED Member of the European Parliament...................................................................20 Prof. David Gaunt - Södertörns University College, SWEDEN.........................................................................22 Willy Fautré - Human Rights Without Frontiers.......................................................................................26 Prof. Ove Bring - Professor of International Law............................................................................................32 Steven Pound - British MP (Labour)............................................................................................................36 5 6 Foreword ust over 92 years ago, approximately two- Children of the Assyrian Diaspora, the fruits of those thirds of the Assyrians – also known as few survivors are now graduating from universities. JSyriacs and Chaldeans - were murdered The childhood of this young diaspora was strewn within the territories of the Ottoman Empire with painful memories and stories they heard from and at the hands of the founders of the modern their elders. Thus these young Assyrians that are well state of Turkey. After much destruction in the equipt educationally and suffer much pain as a result Assyrian homeland, immense pain in the hearts of their collective memory will make great strides of our brothers and sisters and continuous fear in towards the recognition of SEYFO in the very near the eyes of our children, we have begun, 92 years future. later, to rise against the treacherous genocide and massacres that slaughtered two thirds of the Many people participated in the conference we – to- Assyrian nation in one region. gether with GUE/NGL (European United Left, Nor- dic Green Left) - held in the EU parliement. Our only The Assyrian Genocide is generally a forgotten regret was the fact that we could not accomidate for and an ignored genocide; to be ignored is to be 577 indviduals that requested to attend the confe- killed twice! rence because the conference room could only seat around 300 people. We were of course supported by We delight to announce the porogress made in the many indviduals and organisations that had an input last few years for the recognition of SEYFO. Now, in making this conference succesful but the efforts of and after much pain and peril: the Assyrian genocide the Assyrian Associations of Wiesbaden, and Guters- is being discussed in major European cities, day by loh must be highlighted. day more people are being educated regarding the Assyrians and the Assyrian genocide, and of course The contents of this booklet which you hold in your we now see many more new documentries made, and hands are mostly the speaches presented in our con- new books published on SEYFO related topics. ference which we held in the EU parliement, howe- ver, included you would find the speach made by the Assyrian Federation in Sweden, Germany and Hol- MP Stephen Pound in the House of Commons in one land and other Assyrian instituts around the world of the debates sponsored by Firodil Institute - one of were very active to bring this issue to the forefront, our sister organisations – and another speach made and draw international attention to this mach ne- by Prof. Ove Bring in the Swedish Parliement in a clegted topic. As a result of these collectives efforts conference organised by the Assyrian Federations of the Assyrian genocide was debated not only in the Sweden. House of Coomons in London but in the Swedish SEYFO CENTER and the EU parliements also. August 29, 2007 This can mostly be contributed to the fact that the 7 when will we be able to talk about the genocide against the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks? At this time it is only about breaking that taboo and thus breaking with the silence,” Mr. Atman stressed. In fact, Turkey is now in a crucial Necme Seven - Moderator stage in their request for EU-membership. The Cyprus issue was just the first of several points of contention. The process of reform efforts in Turkey slowed down and stopped almost completely with Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, the murder of the Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. Respected representatives of organizations, That significant incident showed the continued politicians and members of the press, lack of adequate treatment towards the minorities. Shlomo (meaning peace in Assyrian), This proves that the measures taken by the Turkish government fall short of the requirements set forth by the EU and thus fails to protect the I would like to take this opportunity and welcome correspondingly low number of ethnic groups left you to this conference on the Assyrian Genocide, in Turkey. SEYFO, here in the European Parliament in Brussels, organized by the European United Left/ Whereas prior to World War I more than one third Nordic Green Left and the SEYFO Center. of Turkey’s estimated population was of Christian faith, today there remains less than 1 percent of The EUL/NGL is the left winged party in Sweden the total amount. What happened to these people? which puts pressure on Turkey to recognize the Where did they go and why did they go? Would Assyrian Genocide. The SEYFO Center is an not ethnic diversity be a great capital to a country internationally found institution determined to like Turkey, especially in terms of joining the Eu- achieve recognition of the genocide committed ropean Union, which is at the mean time based on against the Assyrians. Through activities like cultural diversity? such conferences which have already been held in the House of Commons in London and in the Hence, under the theme “Genocide, Denial and the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm, the SEYFO Right of Recognition” various specialists had been Center intends to demonstrate the suffering invited to speak at this conference here in order to of the Assyrians to the international public. shed some light on the slaughter of the Assyrians, Therefore, it works hand in hand with human Armenians and Greeks, its coherence to nowadays rights’ groups and political parties like this one and the EU. The focus therefore will not be on to put forward its appeal of acknowledgement facts but on Turkey’s position and path especially on the respective levels. in terms of access to the European Union. As the head of the SEYFO Center said a couple Accordingly, the following speakers will talk on the months ago at a meeting here, “If not now, then subject: 8 Mrs. Eva-Britt Svensson; the relations between the European Union and Turkey. Mr. Sabri Atman; Recently Mrs. Rothe was elected as Vice-President of Mrs. Mechthild Rothe; the European Parliament on Germany’s current pre- Professor David Gaunt; sidency. Mr. Markus Ferber; and Professor Willy Fautré Professor David Gaunt is our next speaker on this pa- nel. He is a professor of history at Södertörn Univer- Consequently, such conferences shall serve as key ele- sity of Stockholm. David Gaunt is a social historian ments to gain international recognition of SEYFO. Be- who has written widely on the history of minorities sides, the purpose of these activities is also to analyze and has done a lot of research about SEYFO, which he how democratic Turkey is and to improve Turkey’s published in his first book on that theme. With the title treatment of minorities which is at the same time an “Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian excellent test for Turkey’s commitment towards free- Relations in Eastern Anatolia During World War I”, dom, democracy and human rights. he put together the many different sources he used, amongst them also Turkish ones, that confirm that ge- Therefore let us open the panel with our first speaker, nocide did indeed take place. Recently he is engaged Mrs. Eva-Britt Svensson. with uncovering the story on the found mass grave in Mrs. Svensson is a Swedish politician and Member of South Eastern Turkey in the village of Dara around the European Parliament. She is a representative of the Nusaybin. Left Party, called Vänsterpartiet. Currently she is vice- Now we call Mr. Markus Ferber to speak. Mr. Ferber chairwoman of the EUL/NGL group and of the Eu- is a German politician of the Christian Social Union ropean Parliament‘s Committee on Women‘s Rights (CSU). With his various activities on the regional le- and Gender