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Genocide (Armenia and Assyria)

Were I to attempt to address the history of the Armenian and Assyrian peoples, I would require far longer than the time that Mr. Speaker and you, Mr. Cook, have allocated to me. I shall refer later to the Caliph Sultan Abdul Hamid. For the record, I confirm that my hon. Friend is correct—massacres took place in 1895 and 1909, and throughout this period—but I am concentrating on 1915, because it is the first example of ethnic cleansing and genocide in the 20th century. For that reason, it is vital that we identify the full horror of what occurred. I say that the events are uncontentious, yet Turkey’s greatest living writer, Orhan Pamuk, is currently the subject of attack and vilification, and even a court order, for stating that the Armenian and Assyrian genocides took place. The modern Turkish Government, of whom I am no enemy and who are not entirely responsible for their precursor Ottoman empire, deny to this day that genocide took place.