April 26, 2007 - 14:54 AMT
Commemorative events on Armenian Genocide anniversary held in British Parliament
On the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Parliamentarians, Armenians and supporters gathered for a commemorative service for the first time in the Houses of Parliament Church (St Mary's-under-Croft) and also for a major international conference in the Grand Committee room of the House of Commons. The events were organized by Armenia Solidarity, the British-Armenian All-Party Parliamentary Group and Nor Serount (New Generation) Publications. The Church service was under the care of the Rev Frank Gelli, who called for the government to be more proactive in the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. A wreath-laying ceremony took place at the Monument to the Innocents, Westminster Abbey.

Participants of the international conference, which was chaired by distinguished British parliamentarian Lord Avebury also discussed the tactics of Armenian Genocide denial used by denialist historians and the British Government. They also drew parallels between Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide, as well as the cultural genocide in the Eastern Anatolia, PanARMENIAN.Net was told in "Nor Serount". Besides powerful messages of a number of organizations were read at the conference.

The results of the conference, together with statements received from Genocide experts will be presented to the government in the course of the next few weeks by Lord Avebury and Baroness Cox. The government will also be invited to contact other well-known Genocide experts directly, say Prof Jurgen Zimmerer of Sheffield University and Dr
Cathie Carmichael, of the University of East Anglia.