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THE ASH OF THE GENOCIDE CALLS FOR JUSTICE
Leonid Martirossian
http://artsakhtert.com/eng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=644:-the-ash-of-the-genocide-calls-for-justice&catid=3:all&Itemid=4
Tuesday, 24 April 2012 05:50
Today, April 24, the Armenian people around the world will commemorate
the victims of the greatest crime in human history - the Genocide
of Armenians committed in the Ottoman Empire in 1915. 97 years have
passed since that terrible disaster, but the wound in the soul and
the body of our people continues to bleed, echoing the unbearable
pain in the human memory.
Today, early in the morning, the citizens of Armenia and Artsakh will
honor the memory of innocent victims. In Yerevan, people will go to
the Tsitsernakaberd and in Stepanakert - to the Memorial Complex. In
the Armenian Diaspora, the places of pilgrimage will become many
cross-stones erected in memory of the innocent victims.
In churches, funeral prayers will be served. And everywhere, people
will lay flowers at the monuments to those deceased and will once
again remind the world about one and a half million of Armenians in
Western Armenia who became victims of the criminal and man-hating
policy of Young Turks, about the terror committed by the apologists
of pan-Turkism at the beginning of the last century.
No statute of limitations... This capacious and concise legal phrase
qualifies heinous crimes that cannot be forgiven. That, in spite of
the time elapsed from the date of commission, must get a legal and
political assessment, and their organizers and executors must appear
before the court of history.
No statute of limitations... These words are fully applicable also
to the collective memory of the Armenian people and representatives
of other nations who have recognized and condemned the crime against
humanity - Genocide, that is, the murder of an entire nation. Nearly a
century has passed since 1915, but the time is unable to forget this
tragedy, which abruptly changed the natural history of the Armenian
people and continues to have a negative impact on its history today.
The injurious consequences of the Genocide committed by the Ottoman
Turkey have not been overcome so far. A significant layer of the
Armenian people lost its homeland and is forced to live outside
Armenia, outside the national statehood, as a result of which a
substantial part of its material and intellectual potential serves
to other states.
Unfortunately, even after almost a century the issue of Turkey's
responsibility for the Genocide is not resolved yet. Despite the
ongoing process on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the
world, modern Turkey, which, as we know, does not consider itself
the successor of the Ottoman Empire, however, does not wish to join
these countries and thereby to reconcile with its past. Moreover,
Turkey has adopted a policy of the Genocide denial, spending enormous
political, intellectual and financial resources in order to prevent
the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. An eloquent testimony to
this has become the recent blocking by the Constitutional Court of
France of the bill on criminalizing the denial of Genocide, including
the Armenian Genocide, which was the result of Turkey's efforts. It
is noteworthy that Turkish Minister on the EU Affairs Egemen Bagis,
commenting on the bill, called it "a piece of paper." This cynical
phrase reflects the essence of Ankara's attitude towards the European
values, the carrier of which is the European Union, a member of
which Turkey persistently seeks to become, and towards the Armenian
Genocide itself. But, one cannot ignore the highest moral values,
continue to deny the horrible crime in human history and still claim
for membership in the European Union uniting the civilized nations.
Not recognizing and not rejecting even the fact of a huge massacre
of the Armenian people, impeding in all possible ways the process of
its international recognition in order to avoid the responsibility
for this crime, the current Turkish state, in practice, proves that
Turkey of the early twentieth century and Turkey of the early twenty
first century do not differ in any way. Both then and now the hatred
towards Armenians was and still is a part of the state policy, and
there are no signs that the Turkish authorities will refuse of it
in the nearest future. Not to mention the penance for the Genocide
itself. So, the possibility of the Genocide recurrence cannot be
excluded. And there is no exaggeration.
The Armenian pogroms in Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad and other settlements
of Azerbaijan in 1988-1990, the war against Nagorno-Karabakh, in which
Turkey provided all possible assistance to Azerbaijan, including
military, indicate that the risk of the Genocide recurrence has
not disappeared. It should be noted that both Turkic states created,
including in the areas of historical habitation of the Armenian people,
continue their common hostile policy towards Armenia and Artsakh. I
must say that Azerbaijan, like Turkey, is responsible for the Armenian
Genocide, because the extermination and expulsion of the Armenian
population of Nagorno-Karabakh in the early twentieth century was one
of the links of this monstrous crime. Like Turkey, Azerbaijan has not
shown repentance for its crimes and does not even hide its intention
to commit new ones, having unleashed another war against the NKR.
This behavior of both these states, which are not willing to
acknowledge the shameful pages of their history, rejecting the very
possibility of establishing civilized relations with the Armenian
people, which became a victim of the Genocide perpetrated by them,
should be a signal to the international community to take the necessary
measures to prevent another tragedy, and, first of all, to prevent
the threat of new armed aggression against the people of Artsakh. To
this end, the actions of Turkey and Azerbaijan should be given the
corresponding assessment - both the moral and political-legal. The
ash of the Genocide calls for justice.
From: Baghdasarian
Leonid Martirossian
http://artsakhtert.com/eng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=644:-the-ash-of-the-genocide-calls-for-justice&catid=3:all&Itemid=4
Tuesday, 24 April 2012 05:50
Today, April 24, the Armenian people around the world will commemorate
the victims of the greatest crime in human history - the Genocide
of Armenians committed in the Ottoman Empire in 1915. 97 years have
passed since that terrible disaster, but the wound in the soul and
the body of our people continues to bleed, echoing the unbearable
pain in the human memory.
Today, early in the morning, the citizens of Armenia and Artsakh will
honor the memory of innocent victims. In Yerevan, people will go to
the Tsitsernakaberd and in Stepanakert - to the Memorial Complex. In
the Armenian Diaspora, the places of pilgrimage will become many
cross-stones erected in memory of the innocent victims.
In churches, funeral prayers will be served. And everywhere, people
will lay flowers at the monuments to those deceased and will once
again remind the world about one and a half million of Armenians in
Western Armenia who became victims of the criminal and man-hating
policy of Young Turks, about the terror committed by the apologists
of pan-Turkism at the beginning of the last century.
No statute of limitations... This capacious and concise legal phrase
qualifies heinous crimes that cannot be forgiven. That, in spite of
the time elapsed from the date of commission, must get a legal and
political assessment, and their organizers and executors must appear
before the court of history.
No statute of limitations... These words are fully applicable also
to the collective memory of the Armenian people and representatives
of other nations who have recognized and condemned the crime against
humanity - Genocide, that is, the murder of an entire nation. Nearly a
century has passed since 1915, but the time is unable to forget this
tragedy, which abruptly changed the natural history of the Armenian
people and continues to have a negative impact on its history today.
The injurious consequences of the Genocide committed by the Ottoman
Turkey have not been overcome so far. A significant layer of the
Armenian people lost its homeland and is forced to live outside
Armenia, outside the national statehood, as a result of which a
substantial part of its material and intellectual potential serves
to other states.
Unfortunately, even after almost a century the issue of Turkey's
responsibility for the Genocide is not resolved yet. Despite the
ongoing process on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the
world, modern Turkey, which, as we know, does not consider itself
the successor of the Ottoman Empire, however, does not wish to join
these countries and thereby to reconcile with its past. Moreover,
Turkey has adopted a policy of the Genocide denial, spending enormous
political, intellectual and financial resources in order to prevent
the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. An eloquent testimony to
this has become the recent blocking by the Constitutional Court of
France of the bill on criminalizing the denial of Genocide, including
the Armenian Genocide, which was the result of Turkey's efforts. It
is noteworthy that Turkish Minister on the EU Affairs Egemen Bagis,
commenting on the bill, called it "a piece of paper." This cynical
phrase reflects the essence of Ankara's attitude towards the European
values, the carrier of which is the European Union, a member of
which Turkey persistently seeks to become, and towards the Armenian
Genocide itself. But, one cannot ignore the highest moral values,
continue to deny the horrible crime in human history and still claim
for membership in the European Union uniting the civilized nations.
Not recognizing and not rejecting even the fact of a huge massacre
of the Armenian people, impeding in all possible ways the process of
its international recognition in order to avoid the responsibility
for this crime, the current Turkish state, in practice, proves that
Turkey of the early twentieth century and Turkey of the early twenty
first century do not differ in any way. Both then and now the hatred
towards Armenians was and still is a part of the state policy, and
there are no signs that the Turkish authorities will refuse of it
in the nearest future. Not to mention the penance for the Genocide
itself. So, the possibility of the Genocide recurrence cannot be
excluded. And there is no exaggeration.
The Armenian pogroms in Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad and other settlements
of Azerbaijan in 1988-1990, the war against Nagorno-Karabakh, in which
Turkey provided all possible assistance to Azerbaijan, including
military, indicate that the risk of the Genocide recurrence has
not disappeared. It should be noted that both Turkic states created,
including in the areas of historical habitation of the Armenian people,
continue their common hostile policy towards Armenia and Artsakh. I
must say that Azerbaijan, like Turkey, is responsible for the Armenian
Genocide, because the extermination and expulsion of the Armenian
population of Nagorno-Karabakh in the early twentieth century was one
of the links of this monstrous crime. Like Turkey, Azerbaijan has not
shown repentance for its crimes and does not even hide its intention
to commit new ones, having unleashed another war against the NKR.
This behavior of both these states, which are not willing to
acknowledge the shameful pages of their history, rejecting the very
possibility of establishing civilized relations with the Armenian
people, which became a victim of the Genocide perpetrated by them,
should be a signal to the international community to take the necessary
measures to prevent another tragedy, and, first of all, to prevent
the threat of new armed aggression against the people of Artsakh. To
this end, the actions of Turkey and Azerbaijan should be given the
corresponding assessment - both the moral and political-legal. The
ash of the Genocide calls for justice.
From: Baghdasarian