RUSSIAN LIBERAL CLAIMS KGB ORGANIZED GENOCIDE OF ARMENIANS
MosNews
/2009/04/28/1362/
April 28 2009
Russia
Former world chess champion and opposition activist Gary Kasparov has
condemned Soviet Russia for supporting Turkey during the years of the
Armenian Genocide, the New York Times reports. "The authorities are
the source of problems," the chess player said during a commemoration
event for the Genocide victims.
The ceremony commemorating the Armenian genocide during World War I
was held on Friday in a village near Sochi, the Winter Olympics-2014
city. Newly elected Mayor, Anatoly Pakhomov attended the ceremony,
a crucial gesture to the city’s large Armenian population, the New
York Times says. He delivered a short, respectful address and then
stepped back to polite clapping, making room for a row of schoolgirls
to recite verses.
Gary Kasparov, born to an Armenian mother, spoke after two hours of
waiting. Beginning innocently enough, he made an offhand mention of
Boris Nemtsov, Pakhomov’s rival at the recent election whom Kasparov
had supported. Then he began a tirade against Moscow, saying Soviet
Russia had supported Turkey at the time of the massacres.
Kasparov said that "genocide was not conducted by chance and
the government made little efforts to stop the nationalistic
activities." Two and a half minutes into the chess player’s speech,
a local official tried to stop Kasparov, but the crowd showed support
for him. "The KGB was behind the Armenian pogroms in Baku. The KGB
set nations against each other. We should never give in to these
provocations," Kasparov said.
The Armenian Genocide, also known as the Great Calamity by Armenians,
refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian
population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War
I. The Russian Empire and afterwards Soviet Russia were among the
Ottoman Empire’s (Turkey’s) enemies.