TURKISH POLICY OF DENIAL SETS DANGEROUS PRECEDENT FOR E RECURRENCE OF NEW GENOCIDES- PRESIDENT SARGSYAN SAYS
YEREVAN, March 18. / ARKA /. Addressing an international media forum
in the Armenian capital entitled ‘At the Foot of Mount Ararat,’
dedicated to the centenary of the Armenian Genocide, President
Serzh Sargsyan said Armenia, Armenians all over the world and the
international community will remember and commemorate the Armenian
Genocide committed in the Ottoman Empire one century ago.
‘The genocide took lives of one and a half million Armenians,
hundreds of thousands of people became refugees or were forcefully
converted into other religion. Each Armenian from any corner of
the world continues to feel the consequences of the Mets Yeghern
psychologically, culturally, linguistically and politically.
We wish we could have also commemorated the Centennial of the Armenian
Genocide together with the Turkish people, thereby heralding a new
haven of the rapprochement of the two nations and normalization of
their relations. This was the goal pursued by the protocols between
Armenia and Turkey signed back in 2009 and of my invitation to the
President Erdogan of Turkey to join us on April 24 in honoring the
memory of the Armenian Genocide victims. Unfortunately, once more we
encountered denial, one that acquired a particular manifestation this
year,’ he said.
‘I believe you are well aware that this year Turkish authorities
decided to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli
on the very day of April 24. The only motive for that was the
simple-minded goal to distract the attention of the international
community from the events dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian
Genocide. By the way, in this context your Norwegian colleague BÃ¥rd
Larsen published in February an article titled “Useless Diplomacy,”
in which he very aptly put that “this would be tantamount to Germany
celebrating heroic victories of Wehrmacht in the Eastern Front during
World War II.”
I regret that the Turkish authorities instead of availing themselves
of this Centennial to confront their own history and reconcile,
put themselves in an awkward position by obviously distorting the
well-known chronology the Battle of Gallipoli, and thereby embellishing
their policy of denial with new manifestations.
The Turkish policy of denial pursued not only vindicates the crime
committed by the Ottoman authorities – the dispossession of Armenians
– but also sets a dangerous precedent for the recurrence of new
genocides. The Holocaust, the Rwandan and Cambodian genocides, the
ethnic cleansing and destruction of cultural heritage carried out by
the Islamic State in recent years have all been striking examples of
this. Their efforts to avoid responsibility or consign the Armenian
Genocide to oblivion can be characterized as continuation of the
crime and encouragement of new genocides.
Nevertheless, I must note that larger and larger segments of the
Turkish intelligentsia and progressive youth are demonstrating courage
to confront their historical past, desiring to live a dignified life
and relieving themselves of such a heavy burden of sin.
It is a matter of plain fact that the policy pursued by the current
Turkish government rules out the possibility of bringing the
famous Protocols into life at which official Ankara looked from the
perspective of the absurd preconditions perpetually set forth by it.
For that very reason I decided to recall them from our parliament.
Thus, the process did not reach its logical conclusion, and everybody
knows which party is to blame for its failure. This does not mean that
we are closing the window for rapprochement with Turkey. Nevertheless,
we are not going to get involved in a process, which may fall victim
to the third country’s unconstructive whims and, most importantly,
without hope of restoring mutual trust.
Initially, we thought that the policy “Zero Problems with Neighbors”
proclaimed by the Turkish authorities enshrined Turkey’s sincere
intentions to normalize relations with neighboring countries, including
Armenia. I do not want to comment on the nature of current relations
between Turkey and other states, but as the subsequent developments
demonstrated, Turkey had to face the reality of “Zero Neighbor and
Numerous Problems.” In fact, Turkey’s real intention was not to
have zero problems with neighbors, but to impose its own perception
of those relations on the neighbors, which was nothing else than a
manifestation of Neo-Ottoman policy.
The State Commission for coordination of the events for commemoration
of the Armenian Genocide Centenary was established. Its members
encompassed heads of all the largest Armenian institutions. The
Commission adopted All-Armenian Declaration, which determined the
united will of the Armenian people; by that Armenia and the Armenian
people reiterated their commitment to continuing the international
struggle for the prevention of genocides, restoration of the rights
and establishment of historical justice for the nations subjected
to genocide.
In that perspective, the Armenian Genocide Centennial events are not
solely of all-Armenian nature; they are a unique appeal to prevent
any encroachment upon universal values. For that very reason I have
invited the leaders and high-level officials of various countries to
visit Armenia on April 24 and, thus, send a powerful message of the
inadmissibility of the crime of genocide to the world.’ -0-