Armenia shall never accept denial of Armenian Genocide and disrespect towards memory of victims – President

30/5/2011

YEREVAN. – On May 30 Armenian Government held the first sitting of state committee for coordination of 100th anniversary commemoration events of Armenian Genocide, headed by Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan.

Catholicos of all Armenians Karekin II, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I, top political figures of Armenia and Artsakh, as well as Diaspora representatives attended the meeting.

Armenian President informed the participants about his decision to expand the Committee staff, affiliating the Trustee of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation responsible for the UK branch and the Armenian Communities Department Martin Essayan and the chairperson of Armenian Relief Society Central Executive Board Vicky Marashlian.

Presidential press service provided Armenian News-NEWS.am the speech of President Sargsyan:

“The issue of Genocide stays open for each Armenian even after 96 years from this crime against humanity.

It is open because you can never understand and accept the extermination of one’s own citizens planned and targeted on the state level.

It is open because the terrible crimes against Armenian people have not been settled even after nine and a half decades.

It is open because the followers of those who organized the Great Massacre and who spare no effort to distort this black page of Armenian history still exist.

It is open because those who do not recognize the Armenian Genocide regard our tragedy only as a hindering point for their foreign policy.

We are peaceful people and we are ready to speak, to discuss and to cooperate with everybody, including our neighbors. However, we shall never accept the denial of Armenian Genocide and disrespect towards the memory of innocent victims.”

The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres, and deportations involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, the Italian Chamber of Deputies, majority of U.S. states, parliaments of Greece, Cyprus, Argentina, Belgium and Wales, National Council of Switzerland, Chamber of Commons of Canada, Polish Sejm, Vatican, European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.

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