ArmenPress
April 23 2004

PRIME MINISTER ADDRESSES NATION ON OCCASION OF 89-TH ANNIVERSARY OF
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

YEREVAN, APRIL 23, ARMENPRESS: In a message to the nation on the
occasion of the 89-th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Armenian
prime minister Andranik Margarian said the massacres of Armenians in
1915, planned and carried out by the government of the Ottoman Turkey
was a crime against the civilized humanity, which was not prevented,
recognized and condemned at that time, serving as a precedent of
impunity for repetition of future such crimes.
The message says that Armenia hails the united efforts of the
international community aimed to prevent repetition of new genocides
regarding it as one of its foreign policy priorities. “The geography
of nations and parliaments which have officially acknowledged the
Armenian genocide is expanding, which is a key prerequisite for
preventing future such crimes, for strengthening the international
security system and promoting dialogue among civilizations,” the
message says.
It runs further that the protracted policy of denial or distortion
of the historical truth, adopted by heirs of perpetrators of the 1915
genocide who are trying to send it to oblivion is an evidence of
their failure to surmount the feeling of inferiority which cannot
help establish the environment of co-existence and meet the demands
of the modern world. “The climate of impunity is fraught with new
repetitions of such crimes at any moment at any corner of the globe,”
the message says.
“Today when Armenians throughout the world pay tribute to the
memory of thousands of innocent victims of 1915 massacres we once
again underline that Armenia wants to see Turkey a nation free of its
past burden, wants it to give up its policy of denial to become a
country truly coveting to integrate with the family of civilized
European nations,” the message runs.
The prime minister says then that next year will mark the 90-th
anniversary of the Armenian genocide and the 6-th anniversary of the
end of one of the bloodiest wars, WW II, suggesting that the year of
2005 be declared A Year of Commemoration of and Struggle Against
Wars, Genocides, Deportations and Abuse of Human Rights.
The message also says that the issue of the international
recognition of the Armenian genocide and its condemnation will remain
on Armenia’s foreign policy agenda. It says that concurrently Armenia
reaffirms its desire to have natural relations with all its neighbors
and its resolution to build a strong and prosperous country.
“I am confident that Armenia will make its contribution to global
efforts together with other nations for building a just and safe
world,” the message concludes.