SERGE SARGSIAN: NEGATIONISM IN ISSUE OF CONDEMNATION OF GENOCIDE HAS NO FUTURE

Noyan Tapan
April 24, 2008

YEREVAN, APRIL 24, NOYAN TAPAN. On the occasion of the commemoration
day of the Armenian Genocide victims RA President Serge Sargsian
addressed to the Armenian people. The address read:

"Dear compatriots,

Today we are commemorating the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

As a result of the genocide planned and committed at the state level
in Ottoman Turkey a huge part of Armenian people was exterminated in
its native land and was deprived of the territory where it lived. Many
civilization, cultural, and material values that the Armenian people
had created for many thousands of years were exterminated and continue
to be exterminated today.

The issue of international recognition and condemnation of the
Armenian Genocide is the regular and inevitable part of Armenia’s
foreign political agenda. Armenia, the homeland of all Armenians,
should continue its efforts aimed at restoring historic justice
with multiplied diligence. Negationism has no future in the issue of
condemnation of the Genocide: especially today when many countries
of the world have joined their voice with the voice of the truth.

The recognition and condemnation of the Genocide is not purely the
national issue of the Armenian people. The crime committed against
mankind has universal significance and resonance, therefore it
should receive a universal response. Our goals have nothing in common
with revenge and hostility. Keeping the memory of innocent victims,
meanwhile we are ready just tomorrow to establish normal relations
with Turkey without any preconditions.

Dear compatriots,

The causes and prehistory of the Armenian Genocide have been much
spoken and written about. Many new facts and analyses wait for their
publication, but one thing was clear from the very start: such a crime
could be committed only under conditions of lack of Armenian statehood.

Today, on April 24, we are obliged with a special acuteness to realize
the exclusive significance of the Armenian statehood. All Armenians
should develop and become strong sticking to their state, which is
the guarantor of our people’s security."