YEREVAN. – The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Ara Aivazian, on Saturday delivered an address at the press center of the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, on the 106th anniversary of this tragedy. Aivazian stated as follows:
Each year, on April 24, Armenians all over the world commemorate the martyrs of the Armenian Genocide committed in the early 20th century. As a result of this unprecedented and pre-planned crime, the Armenian people living in the Ottoman Empire were targeted, forcibly displaced and massacred. Over the years, the government of the Young Turks driven by the ideology of Pan-Turkism and their successive governments expanded the policy of the Armenian Genocide to the Eastern Armenia.
In 1915-1923, as a result of these actions, 1.5 million people were killed, hundreds of thousands of human lives were destroyed, an entire nation was dispossessed of its spiritual, educational, cultural and economic property and deprived of the right to live in the major part of its historical homeland.
In 1878, at the Berlin Congress, the Great Powers and the Ottoman Empire undertook a commitment to ensure the security of the population in the Armenian provinces of the Ottoman Empire. By planning and perpetrating the Armenian Genocide, the Young Turk government nullified the international obligations to ensure the security of the Armenian people, set a precedent for "solving" the issue of human rights protection through the execution of an entire nation.
These actions later became the basis for the definition of the crime of genocide, enshrined in the International Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Genocide. However, the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide were not brought to international justice.
The impunity of the Armenian Genocide continue to inspire those who plan new international crimes today. The recent war unleashed by Azerbaijan against the people of Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)] and the genocidal actions of the Turkish-Azerbaijani alliance during that war demonstrated that their approaches towards "solving" international issues by force have not changed.
The crimes committed against the Armenians of Artsakh proved that the recognition of the Armenian Genocide is imperative not only for historical justice and truth, but also for the security of the Armenian people.
The aim of the Armenian Genocide was the complete annihilation of the Armenian people. Thanks to the collective efforts of the Armenian people, as well as the support provided to the survivors of the genocide by different countries and peoples, the Armenian people survived the greatest calamity of its history with dignity.
Today, the Armenian people in Armenia and in Diaspora, demonstrate strong resilience to fight for justice and truth. This struggle once again attests that neither the brutal force of the Young Turk government, nor the denialist speculations of Turkey’s successive governments, nor the hostile actions against the Armenian people in the region can consign to oblivion the first genocide of the 20th century and its martyrs.
This struggle will continue until the Turkish government finds the strength to recognize the Armenian Genocide and undertake steps towards eliminating its consequences.
