JUSTICE REQUIRES WORLD RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE – SARGSYAN
RIA Novosti
13:20 | 24/ 04/ 2009
YEREVAN, April 24 (RIA Novosti) – Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan
said on Friday that international recognition and condemnation of
the genocide of Armenians was necessary to restore historical justice.
Armenia commemorates on Friday the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million
Armenians at the end of the Ottoman period in 1915.
"Crimes against humanity have no limitation either in people’s
memory or in the face of history. The international recognition and
condemnation of the genocide of Armenians is to the Armenian people
and the republic of Armenia a matter of restoring historical justice,"
Sargsyan said in his address to the nation.
The president conveyed "sincere gratitude" to countries, organizations
and people who denounce crimes against humanity and contribute to
their prevention.
A number of states have recognized the killings in Armenia as the
first genocide of the 20th century, including Russia, France, Italy,
Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Greece, as well as 42 of the 50
U.S. states. The Vatican, the European Parliament and the World Council
of Churches have also denounced the killings as genocide. Uruguay
was the first to do so in 1965.
Turkey has always urged Armenia to end attempts to have the killings
recognized as an act of genocide.
Turkish and Armenian envoys have been holding closed talks in
Switzerland for the past two years aimed at normalizing relations.
The two countries came to an agreement Thursday on a "roadmap" aimed
at normalizing bilateral relations.