PRIME MINISTER ANDRANIK MARGARIAN’S SPEECH AT ULTIMATE CRIME, ULTIMATE
CHALLENGES: GENOCIDE AND HUMAN RIGHTS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES

Armenpress

YEREVAN, APRIL 22, ARMENPRESS: Distinguished participants of the
international conference,

Dear guests,

On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Armenia as well as
on behalf of the State Commission for Organization of Commemoration
of the 90th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide I welcome all
the participants and guests who responded to the State Commission’s
invitation and participated at the conference. This once again proves
that today more than ever the Genocide, as the ultimate crime against
humanity and as a universal challenge to humankind preoccupies the
whole progressive world community.

This conference, entitled “An Ultimate Crime, An Ultimate Challenge:
The Genocide and the Human Rights” is actually the continuation of the
international information campaign aimed at foreseeing, preventing,
stopping and punishing for Genocide. I am happy to see here people
from different parts of the world, who have raised their voices of
condemnation at different forums against the heaviest crime against
humanity: Genocide. In this sense it seems appropriate for me to
mention the following statement by the distinguished participant of the
conference Yehuda Bauer, made in the German Bundestag during the 53rd
commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz in 1998: “The Armenian
Genocide was conducted with the technological and bureaucratic means
available at that time. The same means were used by the Nazis against
Poles and Jews.”

It is not a coincidence that today’s conference in Yerevan is being
conducted under the ‘Recognition, Condemnation, Prevention’ motto,
which means that had there been early recognition and condemnation of
the Armenian Genocide of the early 20th century, then mankind might
have been spared similar tragedies.

The Armenian Genocide, which was planned and conducted at the state
level in the Ottoman empire, ninety years ago, is the most cruel
and tragic page of the history of Armenian nation, and the horrible
aftermath we still feel today.

The Genocide, which was conducted in 1915-1923 took the lives of 1.5
million innocent victims, the spiritual and material assets created by
the Armenian nation during millennia were destroyed, those who escaped
death were dispersed all over the world, suffering the heaviest of
refugee hardships.

Decades later, let me once again on behalf of the Armenian nation and
the Government of the Republic of Armenia express our deep gratitude
to all those countries and nations, who gave shelter to thousands of
Armenians, who supported them in undergoing heavy deprivations and who
helped to begin their lives and create a new future in these countries.

The Armenian Genocide with its heavy consequences also caused horrible
damage first to the Armenian identity, when a huge part of our nation
was denied the right to live together in their historical homes. As
a result, our Diaspora compatriots have made huge efforts to preserve
their national identity.

In general the issues included in the agenda of the conference have
one common feature: the condemnation of the Genocide as a crime,
and a deep preoccupation with the preservation of the common values
of human rights, freedom and justice.

It is not a secret that the recognition and condemnation of
the Armenian Genocide has been the test of the Armenian-Turkish
relationship. This is aptly described in the agenda of the conference
as ‘divided by history, unified by geography’.

The Government of the Republic of Armenia has announced and
still confirms its readiness to establish normal relationships
with Turkey without any preconditions. Meanwhile any initiative
of establishing diplomatic ties with Turkey ends up with various
unacceptable preconditions put ahead by the latter. In fact the gradual
rehabilitation of the trust that has been shaken between Armenia and
Turkey, would enforce the further development of regional security
and cooperation, the resolution of current conflicts in South Caucasus
and the establishment of peaceful coexistence.

Armenia fully agrees with those opinions by the political circles
in Europe, according to which a country seeking a full membership in
the European Union at least is obliged to be able to reconcile with
its own past by recognizing the own crime.

It is important for us to see Turkey freed from the heavy burden of
the past, freed from its policy of denial. But contemporary Turkey as
the successor state of the Ottoman empire by denying the fact of the
Armenian Genocide pushed itself out from the process of self-redemption
and coming to terms with own history, choosing instead to remain a
state with the psychology of denial as state policy, and also remaining
the only country to seek membership in the EU, without ridding itself
of the ethnic intolerance and the feeling of ethnic incompatibility.

While consistently trying to achieve the recognition and condemnation
of the Armenian Genocide we push ahead not only the violated rights
of our nation, rehabilitation of dignity and justice, but we also
make a significant input to the struggle of the whole civilized
world against this crime, thus supporting the establishment of a
comprehensive regime of international law and morality.

We are sure that the struggle against this crime is the duty of every
state, international institution and the whole world community.

History is an integrated dynamic process, where the past, the present
and the future are inseparably linked with each other.

Occasionally proposals are made to forget the past and to move
ahead. We answer: moving ahead with whom? Are we to move ahead with
a Genocide perpetrator? Are we to move ahead with the successor-state
of a country, which conducted Genocide against its own citizens? Are
we to move ahead with the country, which intentionally conceals the
historical truth? During the last nine decades there has not been
a political force, media organization or public movement in Turkey
to express regret for a Genocide conducted against a whole nation,
to treat the destruction of Armenians as disrespectful and a shame
for the name and reputation of the Turkish nation. And the truth and
attempts to label historical realities by their appropriate names,
made by individual representatives of intelligentsia have been publicly
criticized by the state.

We call upon Turkey: restore historical justice and the damaged rights
of our nation, and let us, indeed, move ahead securely and without
mutual distrust and without complexes.

As the descendant of a Genocide survivor from Mush, I have often
experienced the feelings of the rare survivor of our huge family. Even
after this, I am ready to begin a dialogue with any Turkish politician
or any representative of Turkish public, if they will have enough
courage to honestly consider their own history. The upcoming
generations need this more than we do.

Even after living through such a disaster, the Armenian nation
found the capacity to once again rise, to establish statehood in one
of the corners of its historical motherland, and to strengthen an
independent state, to contribute to the creation of cultural values
of humanity. This has been the response of the survivors to the
perpetrators of the Genocide.

Distinguished conference participants,

I am hopeful that this international conference will become another
important step to coordinate our efforts against the crime of Genocide,
to unify the potential and the resources of the international community
and to go through the 21st Century with the realization of our desire
to live without this formidable crime.

In conclusion let me once again state the following: nations of the
world, be alert, because a Genocide always can reoccur if we do not
unify our efforts and if we do not struggle together against similar
challenges. Thank you.