In international academic community it is indecent to deny Armenian Genocide

PanARMENIAN.Net - All this, however distressing for Ankara, begins to play a smaller and smaller role for the world community and, realizing this, Turkey declares that Armenia is reluctant to open the genocide archives. To begin with, there is almost no Ottoman archive in Armenia, neither could there be, as at the time of the World War I, Eastern Armenia was part of the Russian Empire and it’s natural that Ottoman records in no way could come to be in the State Archives of Yerevan. Most of the Ottoman records are kept in the Library of Congress, some - in European countries. The largest collection of archival materials is in the Library of Congress. Dispatches of the last U.S. ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau are also kept there. Germany possesses lots of documents too: ambassadors of the two countries regularly reported on the situation in the empire. However, as for Turkish archives, there is almost nothing known about them. There is no doubt that some of the documents, directly pointing to the deportation and extermination of the Armenian population have been erased. It is also possible that they were erased still during the time of Ataturk, i.e. immediately after proclamation of the Turkish Republic. Turkish authorities insist they will open archive only if Armenia does the same.

But this year, they began to talk that historians rather than politicians should examine the Genocide proofs. Meanwhile, in international academic community it is indecent to deny the Armenian Genocide. However, Turkey is not disturbed by this fact. Most interesting is that Ankara, though being perfectly aware of the declarative nature of her statements, particularly regarding the last verdict of the court of Argentina, nevertheless continues calling down curses upon the countries that have recognized the Armenian Genocide. But, in fact, all these threats prove to be empty. There will definitely be no deterioration of relations between France and Turkey, if the Senate votes for adoption of the law criminalizing Genocide denial. Most likely, Turkey’s threats are addressed to the Armenian diaspora, which looks even more confusing especially if we recall the words of Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, who recently declared that the Armenians scattered around the world are the Turkish diaspora. “They are descendants of our citizens; we must communicate with them, work with them and not alienate them from ourselves. They are our citizens,” Davutoglu said. To some extent, Davutoglu is right: they are diaspora Armenians, law-abiding citizens of the Ottoman Empire. But before communicating with them, Turkey will have to explain something to them, without referring to the mythical “fifth column of Russia” that “behind the back of the Ottoman Empire tried to seize Western Armenia”. The question is whether the Turkish state, represented by Erdogan and Ahmetoglu, is ready to say “Yes, we slaughtered you because we didn’t like you. You were Christians and you had a lot of money.” Most likely, Armenians will never get apologies from the Turkish side for the massacre of 1915. And even if they get, there will be living a generation in Armenia for whom the events of 1915 are a remote past. Assimilation of the Diaspora has been increasing, and in 20-30 years only a few will remember who their ancestors were. Alas, such a thing could happen also in Armenia. On April 24 most of the Armenian youth walk to the memorial in Tsitsernakaberd, but they do it out of habit. From the day of national mourning April 24 is gradually turning into simply a day off. Probably, we ourselves are to blame for the depreciation ​​of this day. But one thing gives hope: every year on this day burning the Turkish flag, Armenian youth walk about the city to the memorial.