Series of lectures on Armenian Genocide denial starts in Argentina

PanARMENIAN.Net - On December 15, the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (INADI), the anti-discrimination state institution of Argentina, along with the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA) and the Armenian National Committee of Argentina inaugurated a series of lectures entitled "Denial as a form of discrimination", Agencia Prensa Armenia reports.

Ariel Isaak, director of Policies against Discrimination of INADI, said that "denying part of the story is distorting reality, confusing and even encouraging that this type of thing happen again".

Director of the Armenian National Committee of Argentina Nicolas Sabuncuyan added that "negationism expands as the Armenian Cause expands. It begins to operate in different countries to try to demonstrate that 'it was not a genocide' or that every time a state gets involved, it hinders the negotiations".

Finally, Julian Schvindlerman, member of DAIA, the most important organization of Jewish institutions in Argentina, spoke about the Holocaust denial: "In order to have the moral capacity to deny the Holocaust, one has to refute the survivors, the spectators and even the perpetrators. That is the most unusual thing about denial. The perpetrators never denied having committed the genocide".

The cycle of talks sponsored by the Secretary of Human Rights and Cultural Pluralism of Argentina will be held throughout different provinces of the country during the next year. The presentation was held in the Memory and Human Rights Space, which was the former Higher School of Mechanics of the Navy (ESMA), the largest detention center during the last military dictatorship of Argentina, where thousands suffered forced disappearances, torture and illegal executions. In 2004 it was converted to a museum and a space of memory and today is the most important symbolic place in defense of human rights of the country.