“TO FORGET THE DEAD WOULD BE AKIN TO KILLING THEM A SECOND TIME”
12:21 | April 22,2015 | Politics
The international forum “Against the Crime of Genocide” started today
at Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex in Yerevan.
The event has brought together more than 500 participants from all
over the world, including political, religious and public figures,
journalists and editors.
Before the start of the forum, a documentary about the Armenian
Genocide by the Ottoman Turkey was screened for the participants.
In his speech, Serzh Sargsyan stressed that the forum could become
an important platform for discussions on prevention of genocides.
“This forum is one of the central events to mark the Armenian Genocide
Centennial. Perpetration of genocide is both an aftermath of the inner
developments in a given state or society, and failure of the entire
system of international relations. Impunity is a prerequisite to the
recurrence of the crime of genocide. It is impossible to disagree with
the Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel, who notes
that “to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time,”
Serzh Sargsyan said.
He stressed that Armenia’s active engagement with the international
community’s efforts toward the prevention of the crime of genocide has
been time and again demonstrated through the relevant UN resolutions
adopted by consensus throughout years upon our initiative. “The most
recent one was adopted in March of this year by the United Nation’s
Human Rights Council. The resolution, inter alia, condemned the
international public denial of crimes of genocide and crimes against
humanity since public denials created a risk of further violations
and undermined efforts to prevent genocide.
Serzh Sargsyan also welcomed the two documents adopted by the National
Assembly of the Republic of Armenia this year – the Statement
Condemning the Genocide of the Greeks and Assyrians Perpetrated
by the Ottoman Turkey, and the amendments introduced in the Law on
Holidays and Memorial Days. “In accordance to the latter December
9 is designated as the day for condemnation and prevention of the
crimes of genocide, which is highly symbolic, as the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide had been adopted
on the very that day,” he stressed.
“On the Armenian Genocide Centennial we declare confidently in broad
daylight that the perpetrators of the Genocide failed to achieve what
they planned. Moreover, our response to the attempt to annihilate
the Armenian nation is the state building, our ongoing revival that
is now no longer reversible. I would like to reiterate that today’s
Forum, along with the discussions to be held, shall send the following
powerful and pragmatic message to the international community: the
crimes of genocide have not in the least ceased to be a threat to the
humanity, and the overcoming of their consequences, and prevention
shall become a top priority. The lessons of the past simply oblige us
to do so. The civilized humanity shall joint its efforts to eradicate
eventually the evil of genocide, and its underlying circumstances,”
Serzh Sargsyan said.
Catholicos Karekin II said in speech that humanity has a moral
obligation to fight against genocide because impunity gives rise to
more atrocities.