Aram Safaryan: international community inclined to recognize Armenian Genocide ever more

April 24, 2010 - 14:32 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Secretary of Prosperous Armenia parliamentary group Aram Safaryan said that one-sided concessions over Nagorno Karabakh cannot be imposed on Armenia to stimulate the Armenian-Turkish rapprochement.

“Today, Armenian public and political circles are unanimous in their opinion that the process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide is a matter of national interest and security for Armenia,” he told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

“The process should go on without fail. Presently, the international community is inclined to recognize the Armenian Genocide ever more. We will be waiting for Turkey’s signal on normalization of relations with Armenia,” he said.

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.