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DAVIT HARUTYUNYAN'S SPEECH TEXT ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ATTACHED TO OFFICIAL PROTOCOL OF PACE SESSION
20:44, 23 April, 2013
YEREVAN, APRIL 23, ARMENPRESS: Text of the speech of the Head of
Armenian delegation to Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe
(PACE) Davit Harutyunyan has been attached to official protocol of
PACE session. This was noted by Davit Harutyunyan in the interview
with Armenpress. He also added that despite he had been pre-registered
for the speech his turn didn't come, so speech text was attached to
the official protocol.
As reports Armenpress the speech text mainly reads:
"Today, I shall not speak of the Armenian-Turkish protocols or the
Karabakh issue, nor shall I dwell on the Armenian or, for that matter,
Turkish lobbies...
Today, I shall only remember the children who, in 1915 Ottoman Turkey,
left behind their childhood to endure unspeakable atrocities in the
deserts of Deir ez-Zor. Lessons could still be learned from their
plight; lessons that could inform us, as we face the challenges before
us today.
Present day Turkey seems to be represented by two contradictory
realities:
The first is the Turkey of Orhan Pamuk, Elif Shafak, Taner Akcam,
Fatima Gocek, Murat Belge, Ragip Zarakolu and all the intellectuals
who do not fear history, accept past mistakes, and extend apologies
to the Armenian people for atrocities that they themselves have not
perpetrated personally. It is also the people of Turkey who, on January
19, 2007, took to the streets chanting ["Hepimiz Hrant Dink'iz,"
"Hepimiz Ermeni'yiz"] "We are all Hrant Dink," "We are all Armenian."
The second is the Turkey that sees no dark stains on its nation's
past, but considers it a taint that tens of thousands of Armenians
currently living in Turkey are not being expelled on ethnic grounds;
that the access to Armenia by air has not been shut down as has the
one by way of land. It is the Turkey of those who believe it possible
to live forever in imperious stereotypes, fears, and misgivings;
the Turkey that presents its history as a series of infallible and
spotless ascents.
The two Turkeys are everywhere, at every step, whether in Turkey
proper, or beyond its borders. Everywhere one encounters those Turks
whose grandfathers, in 1915, put their own lives at risk to rescue
and provide asylum to their Armenian neighbors. Rightfully so, they
stand proud for what their grandfathers had done. Proud they stand,
those Turks, in whose courtyards the spirit of the Armenian continues
to roam, in whose familial memories Armenians continue to exist as
neighbors and friends.
Increasingly rare nowadays, is the other Turkey, represented by those
for whom the history of their country begins on May 19, 1919; for whom
the dozens of diverse identities living in the country simply do not
exist and are invisible; for whom the illusion of a homogeneous Turkey,
made up of only Turks, continues to reign.
I am confident that the victory of the first Turkey is the only viable
alternative. Sooner or later, our neighbor shall shed the tormenting
burden it has hauled on its shoulders for so long.
In closing, I would like to quote from former UK Prime Minister Tony
Blair: "Turkey must let go of a selective perception of history and
opt for true history [instead]."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
20:44, 23 April, 2013
YEREVAN, APRIL 23, ARMENPRESS: Text of the speech of the Head of
Armenian delegation to Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe
(PACE) Davit Harutyunyan has been attached to official protocol of
PACE session. This was noted by Davit Harutyunyan in the interview
with Armenpress. He also added that despite he had been pre-registered
for the speech his turn didn't come, so speech text was attached to
the official protocol.
As reports Armenpress the speech text mainly reads:
"Today, I shall not speak of the Armenian-Turkish protocols or the
Karabakh issue, nor shall I dwell on the Armenian or, for that matter,
Turkish lobbies...
Today, I shall only remember the children who, in 1915 Ottoman Turkey,
left behind their childhood to endure unspeakable atrocities in the
deserts of Deir ez-Zor. Lessons could still be learned from their
plight; lessons that could inform us, as we face the challenges before
us today.
Present day Turkey seems to be represented by two contradictory
realities:
The first is the Turkey of Orhan Pamuk, Elif Shafak, Taner Akcam,
Fatima Gocek, Murat Belge, Ragip Zarakolu and all the intellectuals
who do not fear history, accept past mistakes, and extend apologies
to the Armenian people for atrocities that they themselves have not
perpetrated personally. It is also the people of Turkey who, on January
19, 2007, took to the streets chanting ["Hepimiz Hrant Dink'iz,"
"Hepimiz Ermeni'yiz"] "We are all Hrant Dink," "We are all Armenian."
The second is the Turkey that sees no dark stains on its nation's
past, but considers it a taint that tens of thousands of Armenians
currently living in Turkey are not being expelled on ethnic grounds;
that the access to Armenia by air has not been shut down as has the
one by way of land. It is the Turkey of those who believe it possible
to live forever in imperious stereotypes, fears, and misgivings;
the Turkey that presents its history as a series of infallible and
spotless ascents.
The two Turkeys are everywhere, at every step, whether in Turkey
proper, or beyond its borders. Everywhere one encounters those Turks
whose grandfathers, in 1915, put their own lives at risk to rescue
and provide asylum to their Armenian neighbors. Rightfully so, they
stand proud for what their grandfathers had done. Proud they stand,
those Turks, in whose courtyards the spirit of the Armenian continues
to roam, in whose familial memories Armenians continue to exist as
neighbors and friends.
Increasingly rare nowadays, is the other Turkey, represented by those
for whom the history of their country begins on May 19, 1919; for whom
the dozens of diverse identities living in the country simply do not
exist and are invisible; for whom the illusion of a homogeneous Turkey,
made up of only Turks, continues to reign.
I am confident that the victory of the first Turkey is the only viable
alternative. Sooner or later, our neighbor shall shed the tormenting
burden it has hauled on its shoulders for so long.
In closing, I would like to quote from former UK Prime Minister Tony
Blair: "Turkey must let go of a selective perception of history and
opt for true history [instead]."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress