"Blue Book" First Volume Published in Turkey

PanARMENIAN.Net - Pencere Turkish publishing house has issued the first 550-page volume of "Blue Book". The book written by Lord Bryce and prominent historian Arnold J. Toynbee is officially titled "Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 19915-1916" is one of the most important evidences of the Armenian Genocide. According to Marmara Turkish newspaper, the Turkish edition maintains an article by Turkish scientist Taner Akcam, who rated the address of the Turkish parliament to the British with a request to introduce changes into the book as "a temptation".



It should be reminded that the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through its Ambassador to Turkey Sir Peter Westmacott, refused to consider the request made by the Turkish Parliament last April to reconsider the "Blue Book", a 1916 parliamentary report that documents the systematic, deliberate and politically motivated nature of the Armenian Genocide. In a letter, Sir Westmacott officially explained that the Blue Book was drafted by the Parliament, not the Government. He emphasized however, that - contrarily to the insinuations of the Turkish parliamentarians - "none of the individual reports [presented in the document] has been refuted" and that the moral and intellectual probity of the authors, Lord Bryce and prominent historian Arnold J. Toynbee - may not be questioned. The European Armenian Federation considers this letter by a senior representative of the United Kingdom a confirmation that its Government acknowledges the Armenian Genocide as an incontestable and thoroughly documented historical fact.