RPA member: no importance should be attached to Armenian-Turkish Protocols

April 24, 2011 - 11:17 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - It would be praiseworthy if U.S. President Barack Obama used the term Genocide in his annual address to the Armenian community, head of the Republican Party of Armenia parliamentary group Galust Sahakyan said.

“However, former U.S. president Ronald Reagan said ‘Genocide’ and is has changed nothing,” Sahakyan noted.

He also stressed that it is symbolic that the Armenian Genocide Commemoration Day coincided with Easter this year. “It symbolizes the Armenian people’s resurrection after the 1915 tragedy.”

Asked whether it is time for Armenia to withdraw the Armenian-Turkish Protocols from the parliament’s agenda, Sahakyan said that there is no need in attaching importance to the document, as the essence of the Protocols is in providing Armenians with the opportunity to visit their historical Motherland.

“This Motherland does not belong to Turkey. It belongs to Armenia and Byzantium,” he concluded.

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.