French president says Armenian Genocide lessons concern everyone

April 24, 2018 - 10:44 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - French president Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, April 24 sent a message to his Armenian counterpart Armen Sarkissian in which the French leader said that the lesson of the Genocide concerns everyone.

On Tuesday, April 24, Armenians worldwide are commemorating the 103rd anniversary of the Genocide which began in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 and continued until 1923. Some three dozen countries, hundreds of local government bodies and international organizations have so far recognized the killings of 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as Genocide. Turkey denies to this day.

“We remembers April 24, 1915 in Constantinople and the massacre of 600 Armenian intellectuals which marks the beginning of the first genocide of the 20th century,” Macron said.

“We will never forget the men, women and children who perished on the roads of exile from hunger, cold and exhaustion.”

According to Macron, the remembrance of the Genocide and the significance of the lessons it teaches concerns everyone.

The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres and deportations, involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, Italy, 45 U.S. states, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Canada, Poland, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Venezuela, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.