Lragir, Armenia
Nov 23 2006

ARMENIA DID NOT RECOGNIZE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE?

Paruyr Hayrikyan, the leader of the National Self-Determination
Union, Ruben Hovsepyan, ARF Dashnaktsutyun, and Levon Zurabyan,
supporter of the All-Armenian Movement, discussed the Armenian
genocide and other questions on November 23 at the Hayeli Club.

According to Levon Zurabyan, the question of the Armenian genocide is
a moral question and it was very bad to politicize it. `By shifting
the question of recognition of the Armenian genocide to the political
sphere we denigrate it. Politics is a trade of political interests
and by turning the question of the genocide into a political question
we are turning it into a subject of political trade.’ At one time
Levon Zurabyan, the press secretary of the former president Levon
Ter-Petrosyan said the administration of the first president
maintained the issue on the moral level and, therefore, they
succeeded in forcing out Turkey from a strong alliance with
Azerbaijan and separate the Turkish-Armenian relations from the
Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. On the days of the war a great amount
of wheat was brought to Armenia from Turkey. Levon Zurabyan does not
think that it was under the pressure of the international
organizations, because the same international organizations are
persuading Turkey to open the border, however Turkey does not agree,
and `Armenia became enemy number 1 of Turkey. After shifting the
issue of the genocide to the political sphere Turkey has an
opportunity to put a question mark beside the fact of the genocide.’
Meanwhile, the administration of the present president, according to
Levon Zurabyan, raised the issue formally and, in fact, pursues two
purposes, which have nothing to do with the genocide: to distract
peoples’ attention from economic problems and corruption in Armenia,
and to get the political assistance of people who deal with the
genocide in the Diaspora, outside Armenia.

Ruben Hovsepyan, member of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun Party, which is the
political supporter of the president, disagrees. Of course, he would
agree to view te Armenian genocide from the moral aspect `if in the
world morality were a way of life, a rule in relations, and all the
questions were settled in accordance with the rules of morality. If
we refer to a question as morality in this irregular, tought world,
you are sure not to reach anywhere.’

Levon Zurabyan thinks that the question of the recognition of the
Armenian Genocide is manipulated in both international problems and
the home affairs of one state or another. Ruben Hovsepyan disagrees
because he states that many do not recognize the Armenian genocide,
`they wait America to recognize to recognize one after another.’
According to him, however, our presidents did not politicize the
issue. `The world is in such a state, Turkey is in such a state.’

Paruyr Hairikyan thinks the recognition of the genocide arouses a
smile, `it is the same as to ask a criminal to plea guilty. No. A
criminal is punished and forced to recover the damage.’ Paruir
Hairikyan draws parallels with the territorial claims between Japan
and Russia and believes that the more claims we make against Turkey,
the more friendly Turkey would be. Meanwhile, the leader of the
National Self-Determination Union thinks that Armenia did not do as
much as France did. Armenia does not have a law which punishes the
denial of the genocide. `Generally, Russia set down the genocide in
1921 in the Russian-Turkish agreement, the initiative of recognition
of the genocide was not made by the Armenians, but the European
parlaiment in 1987. Meanwhile, for the political government of
Armenia, the recognition of the genocide is a game.’ But not because
of the bad intentions of the government. `We deal with unawareness,
let alone illiteracy.’

`If you have to live at the expense of denying your parents, you will
be lost,’ says Paruir Hairikyan evaluating the policy on the
recognition of the genocide adopted by the All-Armenian Movement and
adds that `you cannot sacrifice the hand for the small finger, but
you can sacrifice the small finger for the hand.’