The event also drew similar criticism in 2000 from the United Kingdom 's Armenian community , who complained that the event remained exclusively for commemorating those who perished in the Holocaust , and not the Armenian Genocide . Neil Frater , an official from Tony Blair 's Race Equality Unit , a branch of the Home Office , replied that it had consulted the Holocaust Memorial Day Steering Group on the issue and had agreed that while it understood that the Armenian Genocide was an " appalling tragedy " , it wanted to " avoid the risk of the message becoming too diluted if we try to include too much history . " Frater went on to say that it had gone on with the Steering Group 's advice to reject the Genocide , along with the Crusades , colonialism and the Boer War . His comments were received with even more criticism . Zaven Messerlian , the principal of the Armenian Evangelical College in Beirut , Lebanon , stated that " any serious commemoration must include the aetiology of genocide , particularly those of the twentieth century , especially if one encouraged the next . " The UK-based Refugee Council also supported this position , since the event was supposed to include " all victims of genocide . " The British government faced a flurry of public criticism for its decision not to include the Armenian Genocide , most notably in the daily newspaper '' The Independent '' from its chief Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk . After months of pressure , the government allowed 20 Armenian survivors to attend the event in its first annual commemoration . Armenians contended that the British government held out for so long because it wished to preserve its relationship with the successor state of the Ottoman Empire and NATO ally , Turkey
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Holocaust Memorial Day (UK)