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ARMENIAN PRESIDENT READS OUT PAN-ARMENIAN DECLARATION, CALLING ON TURKEY TO ACCEPT 'GENOCIDE'
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Feb 6 2015
February 06, 2015, Friday/ 17:32:59/ TODAY'S ZAMAN / ANKARA
President Serzh Sarksyan, on Jan. 29, read out the Pan-Armenian
Declaration on the 100th Anniversary of the alleged Armenian genocide,
before submitting it to the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, calling
on Turkey "to face its own history and memory through commemorating
the victims" of what it claims is the "Armenian genocide."
According to the Office of the President of Armenia, following a
meeting of the State Commission, President Sarksyan, Catholicos of
the Holy See of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church Aram I, and
Patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church Karekin II were joined by
commission members to lay a wreath at Tsitsernakaberd, the Armenian
Genocide Memorial Complex dedicated to the memory of Armenians killed
during World War I. There, Sarksyan read the declaration calling on
Turkey to "recognize and condemn the Armenian Genocide committed by
the Ottoman Empire, and to face its own history and memory through
commemorating the victims of that heinous crime against humanity and
renouncing the policy of falsification, denialism and banalizations
of this indisputable fact."
The declaration, based on the Declaration of Independence of Armenia
of Aug. 23, 1990, and the Armenian Constitution, also condemns what
it calls Turkey's illegal blockade of Armenia, and its "anti-Armenian
stance in international forums and the imposition of preconditions
in the normalization of interstate relations."
The declaration commemorated what it calls "the 1.5 million innocent
victims of the Armenian Genocide and bows in gratitude before those
martyred and the surviving heroes who struggled for their lives and
human dignity."
The declaration also "considers the 100th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide an important milestone in the ongoing struggle for historical
justice under the motto, 'I remember and demand.'"
The declaration comes at a time when Turkish-Armenian ties are
particularly strained, especially after Turkey decided to commemorate
the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I on April 23-24 this year,
coinciding with the Armenians' centennial commemoration of what they
call the "Armenian genocide." The Turkish government sent invitations
to more than 100 leaders around the world, whose soldiers fought in
World War I, including Armenian President Sarksyan.
In an open letter addressed to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Sarksyan
immediately rejected the invitation to the Gallipoli commemoration
ceremonies, adding that the invitation itself shows that Turkey
continues to pursue its policy of denial of the Armenian genocide.
Yerevan commemorates the mass killings of Armenians every April 24
and often uses the anniversary as an opportunity to lobby Western
countries to brand the killings as genocide. Ankara denies claims that
the events of 1915 amounted to genocide, arguing that both Turks and
Armenians were killed when Armenians revolted against the Ottoman
Empire during World War I in collaboration with the Russian army,
which was then invading Eastern Anatolia.
Turkey expressed its first condolences to the Armenians for the 1915
events in April of 2014. Though this was regarded as promising, it was
not warmly accepted by Armenians as the message failed to reference
the events as genocide nor did it refer to other ethnicities who also
suffered during the last years of the Ottoman Empire.
http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_armenian-president-reads-out-pan-armenian-declaration-calling-on-turkey-to-accept-genocide_371972.html
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Feb 6 2015
February 06, 2015, Friday/ 17:32:59/ TODAY'S ZAMAN / ANKARA
President Serzh Sarksyan, on Jan. 29, read out the Pan-Armenian
Declaration on the 100th Anniversary of the alleged Armenian genocide,
before submitting it to the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, calling
on Turkey "to face its own history and memory through commemorating
the victims" of what it claims is the "Armenian genocide."
According to the Office of the President of Armenia, following a
meeting of the State Commission, President Sarksyan, Catholicos of
the Holy See of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church Aram I, and
Patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church Karekin II were joined by
commission members to lay a wreath at Tsitsernakaberd, the Armenian
Genocide Memorial Complex dedicated to the memory of Armenians killed
during World War I. There, Sarksyan read the declaration calling on
Turkey to "recognize and condemn the Armenian Genocide committed by
the Ottoman Empire, and to face its own history and memory through
commemorating the victims of that heinous crime against humanity and
renouncing the policy of falsification, denialism and banalizations
of this indisputable fact."
The declaration, based on the Declaration of Independence of Armenia
of Aug. 23, 1990, and the Armenian Constitution, also condemns what
it calls Turkey's illegal blockade of Armenia, and its "anti-Armenian
stance in international forums and the imposition of preconditions
in the normalization of interstate relations."
The declaration commemorated what it calls "the 1.5 million innocent
victims of the Armenian Genocide and bows in gratitude before those
martyred and the surviving heroes who struggled for their lives and
human dignity."
The declaration also "considers the 100th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide an important milestone in the ongoing struggle for historical
justice under the motto, 'I remember and demand.'"
The declaration comes at a time when Turkish-Armenian ties are
particularly strained, especially after Turkey decided to commemorate
the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I on April 23-24 this year,
coinciding with the Armenians' centennial commemoration of what they
call the "Armenian genocide." The Turkish government sent invitations
to more than 100 leaders around the world, whose soldiers fought in
World War I, including Armenian President Sarksyan.
In an open letter addressed to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Sarksyan
immediately rejected the invitation to the Gallipoli commemoration
ceremonies, adding that the invitation itself shows that Turkey
continues to pursue its policy of denial of the Armenian genocide.
Yerevan commemorates the mass killings of Armenians every April 24
and often uses the anniversary as an opportunity to lobby Western
countries to brand the killings as genocide. Ankara denies claims that
the events of 1915 amounted to genocide, arguing that both Turks and
Armenians were killed when Armenians revolted against the Ottoman
Empire during World War I in collaboration with the Russian army,
which was then invading Eastern Anatolia.
Turkey expressed its first condolences to the Armenians for the 1915
events in April of 2014. Though this was regarded as promising, it was
not warmly accepted by Armenians as the message failed to reference
the events as genocide nor did it refer to other ethnicities who also
suffered during the last years of the Ottoman Empire.
http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_armenian-president-reads-out-pan-armenian-declaration-calling-on-turkey-to-accept-genocide_371972.html