Heritage party calls on all countries to recognize Armenian Genocide

April 17, 2010 - 16:47 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Heritage party disseminated a statement calling on the world community to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Heritage notes that without recognition of the Armenian Genocide today’s Turkey factually assumes the responsibility for this crime. “Genocide denial is a display of state’s readiness to perpetrate new ethnic cleansings and genocide,” the statement reads.

Heritage once again urges all countries of the world, including Islamic ones, to recognize the Armenian Genocide and withdraw from the list of those countries, which conceal this crime.

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.