ASHOT GRIGORIAN: IT IS TURKEY’S DUTY TO RECOGNIZE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
NOYAN TAPAN
MAY 11, 2010
SALZBURG
A seminar took place on May 9 in Salzburg which was organized by the
"SALZBURG GLOBAL SEMINAR" authoritative organization. The Foreign
Ministries of many counries including Austria, Sweden, Turkey, and
UN officials took part in that seminar.
The organizers invited Forum of Armenian Association of Europe
(FAAE) Chairman Ashot Grigorian to attend the seminar who during the
opening briefly presented the theme of the questions which he had
prepared for the discussion including the present and the future of
the Armenian-Turkish Protocols, the Armenian Genocide recognition
by Turkey, lifting the blockade of the Armenian-Turkish border and
the development of relations with the South Caucasus particularly
with Azerbaijan.
In his speech A. Grigorian said:
"Based on the facts of the Genocide of 1915, in 1945 Raphale Lemkin
drafted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.
Many European states have given the Armenian Genocide their political
recognition. Turkey cannot bar the parliaments of democratic countries
to give express their political position on this historical fact. It
is the privilege and the right of freely and democratically elected
parliaments. It won’t be long before the majority of EU member states
reproach Turkey for its denial of the Genocide. This too will hinder
your EU membership. Do you not think that with statements such as
that in 1915 more Turks died in the hands of the Armenians than the
other way round merely brings a smile, if not laughter, to the faces
of European politicians who are well acquainted with the Ottoman
Empire’s history? Many countries have withheld Turkish attacks and
suffered under the aggressive policies of the Ottoman Empire. The
Turkish attacks reached as far as Austria and Vienna was surrounded by
the Turkish army for a long time. You will not succeed in convincing
anybody by your rewriting of the history and you make the situation
more difficult. Genocide recognition is Turkey’s obligation and it
must own up to it, as did civilised Germany. This is the only way to
satisfy the generations of a million robbed and murdered Armenians;
generations that live in the Diaspora and whose purpose in life is
to fight for their murdered ancestors and for justice. With time
the number of these generations multiplies, as does the feeling of
injustice. The solution to this problem lies with you.
I ask you to appreciate one thing – the power of the Diaspora grows
and the campaign becomes more powerful. Without recognition of the
genocide Turkey will not be able to progress democratically and work
peacefully. The Diaspora will find new opportunities to explain to you
and make you come to terms with your past and by apologising for the
terrible mistake you will secure a clear future. There are hundreds
of thousands, perhaps millions of Turks in Turkey today that are the
offspring of mixed marriages with Armenians. These Turks consciously,
or perhaps even unconsciously, feel that your predecessors have been
grossly unjust to the Armenians that were forced out of their homeland,
deported and finally subject to genocide. These Turks will be the in
the frontline of those demanding justice so that they too can live
with clear conscience and in peace inside Europe. Solving problems
by falsifications is ineffective and in fact impossible.
Either you will appreciate this, and soon the Armenian and the Turkish
people will resume neighbourly relations, or you will cause further
tension in the South Caucasus and potentially war. The situation in
the Middle East from Georgia to Iraq and Israel is already highly
sensitive. It is true that Turkey’s position here is truly great.
Either Turkey will cause the situation to erupt and even escalate
to a regional war, or it will continue its democratic path towards
entering EU by firstly solving all the issues Turkey has been the cause
of thus the solutions of which lie with Turkey alone. We believe in
second way’s being realistic."