Incredible, but true! Eilian Williams, a shepherd in Wales, has done more in support of the Armenian Cause than most Armenians, despite the fact that he is not related to Armenians by heritage or marriage. For all his good work, he has received no recognition and no appreciation. Most Armenians, except for a small circle in London, are neither aware of his existence nor his selfless efforts.

The story of Eilian Williams noble struggle was published in Asbarez daily.

His first involvement with Armenians began in 1998 when an Armenian acquaintance from the “Wales Armenia Solidarity” group asked him to arrange for the Armenian Church Choir to perform in Eisteddfod, a Welsh Cultural Festival.

On April 24, 2001, Mr. Williams organized the first Armenian Genocide commemoration in the Temple of Peace located in Cardiff, Wales. He then succeeded in getting National Assembly for Wales in October 2002 to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide and organized a special commemorative event in the National Assembly building, which was attended by Armenian Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Through his persistent efforts, the Gwynedd County Council in March 2004 became the first municipality in the UK to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

In October 2004, Mr. Williams arranged for the Prime Minister of the Republic of Nagorno- Karabagh (Artsakh) to be received by the Presiding Officer (Speaker) of the National Assembly for Wales, thus boosting the legitimacy of Artsakh’s statehood.

Two years later, Mr. Williams was able to persuade the majority of the members of the National Assembly for Wales to support the Assyrian/Armenian Genocide Early Day Motion (EDM).

In January 2007, he organized the Hrant Dink Commemoration in the British Parliament. He also lobbied for the Armenian Genocide Motion in the House of Commons which garnered the signatures of 182 Members of Parliament.

On November 3, 2007, at the inauguration of the Armenian Genocide Monument in Cardiff, which Mr. Williams and John Torosyan helped organize, the Speaker of the National Assembly for Wales made scathing remarks about Turkey. Turkish hooligans tried to disrupt the solemn proceedings; several months later, they desecrated the Genocide Memorial.

A month ago he had submitted the text of a new Early Day Motion to the British House of Commons. The Motion demands that Turkey return the more than 2,000 Armenian, Assyrian and Syriac churches and religious monuments confiscated by the Turkish government after the 1915 Genocide to the jurisdiction of their respective Patriarchates as “a measure of restitution.”

The Motion further asks that the British government recognizes the fact that these minorities were ethnically cleansed in the years following 1915, as was recently acknowledged by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Motion has so far gained the support of 23 Members of the British Parliament.