Genocide recognition could have prevented new genocides: NKR leader

April 24, 2016 - 11:18 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The President of the Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic issued an address on the 101st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

“Today the Artsakh people together with the whole Armenian nation remember one and a half million innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide,” Bako Sahakyan said.

“Regrettably, genocides have been committed in modern times as well, and had the Armenian Genocide been recognized and condemned by the international community in due time, there would not be millions of new innocent victims in different quarters of the world.

Both in those tragic days of 1915 and today when the Armenians strive for their right to be free and independent, for the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, we have felt the support of different countries and numerous people who put justice, humaneness, protection of universal human rights above everything. We are grateful to all the friends of the Armenian people.

Our foe has not changed, but our people have. Today the Armenians appear to the world with the two Armenian republics, the Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora unyielding trinity and unshrinking determination to live and create in their historic land.

In April the Armenians all over the world once again stood on their feet undivided and consolidated to affirm to the world that they are were ready to defend their Fatherland and dignity and would do everything possible together with their brave sons and heroic army, their unity, cohesion and invincible spirit,” the President said.

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.