LECTURE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ORGANIZED IN BEIRUT
BEIRUT, APRIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN. “Recognition is not enough, there should
be compensation to the ancestors of the deported and the massacred
Armenians,” said David Barsamian, an American freethinking activist
whose parents have been eyewitnesses of the first Genocide of the 20th
Century. The Youth and Student Committee of the 90th Commemoration
of the Armenian Genocide had organized a lecture entitled “Armenian
Genocide: Justice Denied” in collaboration with the Human Rights
and Peace Club as well as the Lebanese-Armenian Heritage Club of
American University of Beirut (AUB). According to the Armenian
Genocide Commemoration Committee of Lebanon, the lecture took place
in the West Hall at AUB in the presence of numerous distinguished
guests including the Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia in Lebanon,
Mr. Arek Hovhannesian, Archbishop Kegham Khatcherian, Primate of the
Armenian Prelacy of Lebanon, State Minister, Mr. Alain Tabourian,
members of Parliament, representatives of political parties and social
organizations. Nazeli Kandaharian spoke on behalf of the Youth and
Student Committee of the 90th Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide
stressing that “we owe our present and future to the will of those who
have secured the beating of the heart decades after decades for this
we are ever grateful.” She concluded her speech inquiring “how can
Humanity prevent a crime from reoccurring when the criminal remains
unpunished”? After the opening speech, a 20 minutes-long documentary,
featuring the survivors of the Armenian Genocide, was viewed after
which, Mr. Aram Kradjian, President of the Lebanese-Armenian Heritage
Club of AUB, introduced the guest speaker. David Barsamian stated
that the Armenian Genocide “is not an abstract, ancient history, it’s
our present and our daily life”. He stressed that all denial efforts
exerted by the Turkish authorities and other states like the U.S. and
Israel will not succeed in deterring the will and the determination of
the Armenians. Answering to the questions of the audience, the lecturer
tackled the issue of compensations and reminded that “Hitler knew that
nothing had happened to the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide”
and concluded that “Genocide unpunished is a Genocide encouraged”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress