Geneva to unveil Genocide memorial despite Turkey’s resistance

November 1, 2013 - 17:19 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Geneva municipality is determined to follow through with the construction of the Armenian Genocide victims memorial, Timeturk said.

The decision to build the Lamps of Memory authored by Melik Ohanian was passed in 2011. As the Armenian ambassador to Switzerland Charles Aznavour told local media, the memorial should not be viewed as an attempt at a condemnation. Instead, he said, the memorial will be dedicated to all the nations who went through genocide.

As a representative of the Geneva municipality in charge of the project, Sami Kanaan told a news conference, the memorial won’t bear the ‘Genocide’ inscription.

As Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesman told Cihan Turkish news agency amid Ankara concerns on the issue, the Genocide memorial construction can’t be discontinued. “We know that the issue is a painful one for Turkey. Keeping in touch with both sides, we’re working to promote improvement of ties between Armenia and Turkey,” the source quoted him as saying.

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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, Italy, 45 U.S. states, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Canada, Poland, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Venezuela, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.