Naira Zohrabyan: international recognition of Genocide is not limited to Barack Obama’s address

April 25, 2010 - 00:01 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - “I regret that for the second year the U.S. President fails to honor his pre-electoral pledge and does not recognize the Armenian Genocide,” Prospering Armenia parliamentary group member Naira Zohrabyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

According to her, it would have been good, if Obama called things by their proper names, but it is not correct to wait impatiently every year to see whether the U.S. President will use the word genocide. “Eventually, the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide is not limited to Barack Obama’s address. We will achieve Turkey’s recognition of the Genocide that is more important,” she stressed.

U.S President Barack Obama addressed the Armenian community of the U.S., again using the term Meds Yeghern with respect to the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire.

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.