ARMENIAN COMMUNITIES IN ARABIC COUNTRIES CAN CONTRIBUTE TO GENOCIDE RECOGNITION IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD
YEREVAN, March 9. /ARKA/. Armenian communities in Arab countries
are able to play substantial role in acknowledgment of the Armenian
genocide in the Islamic world, expert in Arabic studies Armen Petrosyan
said on the air on Sputnik-Armenia radio, as cited by Novosti-Armenia.
Right now Lebanon is the only Islamic state that recognized the
genocide of Armenian, the expert said.
Petrosyan said the Armenian genocide has been used recently, mainly
in the Near East and North Africa, in Egypt and Syria in particular,
in counteracting Turkey’s policy. But the possibility of their
acknowledgment of the genocide is still vague, he said.
The expert said Armenian diplomatic tools are limited in the Arabic
Muslim world, particularly due to insufficient resources. Certain
measures taken by the Armenian communities in these countries may
help bring up the recognition issue, he said.
Yet, the final outcome will depend on many details, the stance of the
neighboring countries, relations with Turkey, and etc., according
to the expert. All this reduces the chances for recognition of the
Armenian genocide substantially, Petrosyan said.
Armenian Genocide was the first genocide committed in XX century.
Turkey rejects the accusation of massacres and the killing of one
and a half million Armenians during World War I.
The fact of the Armenian genocide is recognized by many countries,
particularly by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, most of the U.S.
states, as well as by the parliaments of Greece, Cyprus, Argentina,
Belgium, Wales, National Council of Switzerland, Common House of
Canada, the Seym of Poland and lower house of Italian parliament. -0–