International Conference on Armenian Genocide kicks off in Lebanon

PanARMENIAN.Net - On February 23, 2012, the International Conference on the Armenian Genocide: from Recognition to Reparation began in Antelias, Lebanon, in the presence of 120 experts from all over the world, ambassadors, current and former government ministers and members of the Lebanese parliament, heads of Armenian religious communities and representatives of Armenian political parties and other institutions.

His Holiness welcomed the guests and the participants and explained the background leading to the conference. After stating his expectations from the Conference, in which he referred at length to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, Catholicos Aram I concluded with the following remarks: “Turkey must return the church and community properties confiscated by the Ottoman Turkish authorities to their legal owner, the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia. As the Catholicosate of Cilicia, we claim the ownership of our properties confiscated by the Turkish authorities”.

Prof. Nora Bayrakdarian introduced the agenda and the two speakers: H.E. Judge Fausto Pocar, Former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and H.E. Judge Joe Verhoeven, ad hoc Judge, International Court of Justice.

Speaking from his experience, Judge Fausto Pocar said that although it is important to list the acts of the Genocide Convention, it is equally important to consider intent and incitement. After mentioning examples from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and that of the Former Yugoslavia, he said that in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, the Tribunals clarified the crime of genocide by both applying the acts listed in the 1948 Genocide Convention and showing evidence of intent and incitement. Judge Pocar stated that the same process could take place in the case of the Armenian Genocide.

Judge Verhoeven began by saying that recognition of the Armenian Genocide is an established fact and that the Turkish State is denying part of its own history. He also said that the fact that the Genocide Convention had not been written at the time of the Armenian Genocide is irrelevant and that there is no statute of limitations on the act of the illegal killing of people. The State of Turkey and its territories still exist and it is therefore accountable. Speaking of Church properties, he said that these were semi-public properties: part of the historical heritage of the Armenian people and a necessary component of their identity. Turkey cannot deny the identity of a people. Turkey should respect it and make reparation to the Church, which is responsible owner of this heritage.

The opening session ended with the anthem of the Catholicosate of Cilicia and the prayer of His Holiness Aram I at the Martyr’s Chapel.