ARMENIANS’ DUTY TO THE PAST

armradio.am
26.10.2007 17:10

October 15 Fred Hiatt published an article in the Washington Post, in
which he was urging the Armenian Diaspora to work as hard for democracy
in Armenia as for congressional recognition of the genocide. It’s even
possible that modern Armenia would be as democratic as modern Turkey,
the author wrote.

The same day the Armenian Ambassador to the United States Tatoul
Margaryan sent a response letter to the Washington Post, which was
published on October 24. It’s noted in the letter that Fred Hiatt’s
"Armenians Who Need Help Today" leads the debate over recognition of
the Armenian genocide in the wrong direction.

The Ambassador mentioned that the difficulties that Armenia has
encountered during its successful democratic and economic transition
are not taboo subjects for genuine discussion. And members of our
Diaspora have always provided economic assistance and been actively
involved in issues such as the environment, civil and political
liberties, and security. But this activism has not come at the expense
of the quest for genocide recognition, a moral duty for all Armenians
and all of humanity.

"In addition, the Turkish state’s denial of the Armenian genocide
translates into its continuing refusal to normalize relations with
Armenia, leading us to believe that our only choice is to pursue both
historical and contemporary justice.

The fact that Armenia’s democratic transition is not yet complete
should not prevent Armenia from condemning crimes against humanity,
especially a genocide that killed 1.5 million of our ancestors,
took their historical homeland and destroyed a millenniums-old
culture. The suggestion that Armenia’s routine transition problems
and the genocide carried out by Ottoman Turkey can be weighed on the
same scale is ill-founded, to say the least," the Ambassador wrote.