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SARKISIAN VOWS GREATER EFFORTS AT GENOCIDE RECOGNITION
Ruzanna Stepanian
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/24553990.html
19.04.2012
Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian addresses an election campaign
rally in Yerevan's Shengavit district, 19 Apr 2012.
Armenia will step up efforts to achieve greater international
recognition of the 1915 Armenian massacres in Ottoman Turkey as
genocide as it prepares to mark their 100th anniversary, President
Serzh Sarkisian said on Thursday.
"In advance of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide we
will redouble our efforts at its international recognition and
condemnation," he told an election campaign rally held in Yerevan's
southern Shengavit district.
Sarkisian cautioned at the same time that Armenia has a "long way"
to go in achieving that goal. "The passage by France of a law
criminalizing genocide denial pleased many of us, while the French
Constitutional Court's ruling [declaring the law unconstitutional]
disappointed some of us," he said. "I am calling on all of you to be
serene and patient because defending the rights of the Armenians in
the international arena is a very difficult process."
Sarkisian was accused by critics at home and especially the Armenian
Diaspora of undermining genocide recognition when he embarked on a
Western-backed rapprochement with Turkey in 2008. He has repeatedly
denied those claims, saying that time has proved them wrong.
In a speech at a Republican Party congress last month, the president
declared that the failed Turkish-Armenian normalization process has
actually "solidified the process of the international recognition
of the Armenian Genocide." He also said that Turkey's refusal to
ratify the Turkish-Armenian normalization agreements signed in 2009
has demonstrated to the world community that Armenia is the more
constructive party to the dialogue.
Ruzanna Stepanian
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/24553990.html
19.04.2012
Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian addresses an election campaign
rally in Yerevan's Shengavit district, 19 Apr 2012.
Armenia will step up efforts to achieve greater international
recognition of the 1915 Armenian massacres in Ottoman Turkey as
genocide as it prepares to mark their 100th anniversary, President
Serzh Sarkisian said on Thursday.
"In advance of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide we
will redouble our efforts at its international recognition and
condemnation," he told an election campaign rally held in Yerevan's
southern Shengavit district.
Sarkisian cautioned at the same time that Armenia has a "long way"
to go in achieving that goal. "The passage by France of a law
criminalizing genocide denial pleased many of us, while the French
Constitutional Court's ruling [declaring the law unconstitutional]
disappointed some of us," he said. "I am calling on all of you to be
serene and patient because defending the rights of the Armenians in
the international arena is a very difficult process."
Sarkisian was accused by critics at home and especially the Armenian
Diaspora of undermining genocide recognition when he embarked on a
Western-backed rapprochement with Turkey in 2008. He has repeatedly
denied those claims, saying that time has proved them wrong.
In a speech at a Republican Party congress last month, the president
declared that the failed Turkish-Armenian normalization process has
actually "solidified the process of the international recognition
of the Armenian Genocide." He also said that Turkey's refusal to
ratify the Turkish-Armenian normalization agreements signed in 2009
has demonstrated to the world community that Armenia is the more
constructive party to the dialogue.