Heritage: Armenia won’t ask Turkey, other countries to recognize Genocide

April 24, 2011 - 11:23 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Leader of Heritage Party Raffi Hovannisian said the international community has long ago recognized the Armenian Genocide.

“There are tens of thousands of international documents in state archives, evidences of diplomats and missioners, which confirm that the Armenian Genocide was the first genocide in the 20th century,” Hovannisian said on April 24 during his visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial.

He added that Armenia will not ask Turkey and other countries to recognize the Genocide.

“Any state should know its history. The 1915 events are a crime against humanity. And if the U.S. or Russian Presidents are willing to use this or that term for describing them, they should conceive that these events are the history of both Armenia and the entire humanity, including the U.S. people, since right American diplomats and missioners described these events,” said Hovannisian.

According to him, the fact that U.S. President Barack Obama said “Meds Yeghern” this year, of course, describes the 1915 events, but simultaneously deprives the people of their Motherland. “Today Armenia demands elimination of the Genocide consequences and compensation of the Armenian people’s losses,” concluded Hovannisian.

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.