ARFD: Armenians will always demand Turkey’s compensation for Genocide

April 24, 2011 - 11:46 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Member of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun parliamentary group, head of the RA National Assembly Standing Committee on Defense, Security and Internal Affairs Hrayr Karapetyan said the Armenian people will always demand a compensation for losses they suffered as a result of the Genocide.

“The issue of compensations is always topical, since a genocidal policy towards the Armenian people is being continued both by Turkey and its younger brother - Azerbaijan,” Karapetyan said after visiting the Armenian Genocide Memorial.

“I mean not only destruction of the Armenian cultural heritage, but also Ankara’s current policy towards the Armenian-Turkish normalization,” he noted.

Karapetyan reminded that the international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide remains a priority of Armenia’s foreign policy.

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.