AT PRESENT PROCESS OF RECOGNITION AND CONDEMNATION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IS AT STAGE OF "FROM RECOGNITION TO RECOVERY" ASHOT MELKONIAN CONSIDERS

Noyan Tapan
April 23, 2008

YEREVAN, APRIL 23, NOYAN TAPAN. At present the process of recognition
and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide is in the legal-political
field "from recognition to recovery." Ashot Melkonian, the Director
of the History Institute of the RA National Academy of Sciences,
expressed such an opinion at the April 23 press conference. According
to him, we should pass much more "stony, difficult way" to complete
this stage of the process. According to A. Melkonian, the court is
to determine the amount of the damage of the Armenian people and the
form of recovery. "A tragedy happened, the world admits it, but the
world should not satisfy itself with only providing moral assistance,"
A. Melkonian said.

The historian also mentioned that the Armenian Genocide is a
"classical" example of genocide. However, according to A. Melkonian,
in difference to the Jewish Holocaust, the Armenians were slaughtered
just in their homeland, in Western Armenia. "Here we have a problem
of not only a genocide, but also a problem of deprivation of homeland,
to which we should pay attention," he said. In A. Melkonian’s opinion,
in case of depriving of homeland it is impossible to speak about
only material recovery, as it is difficult to turn into material
units the 2500 villages, 66 towns, 1350 churches, etc. the Western
Armenians lost.