Kurdish activist: You can’t establish state on another nation’s lands

April 25, 2016 - 14:03 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian nation must raise issues of reparations for the Genocide and put the recognition claims aside, a representative of a Germany-based Turkish organization, Union Against Genocide member Mahmut Uzun told reporters Monday, April 25, in Yerevan.

Citing his Kurdish origins, Uzun said he feels shame for many of his compatriots who participated in the annihilation of Armenians many years ago.

“I am confident that no nation can live and establish a state on lands that once belonged to another nation,” Uzun said. “The Armenian territories must one day be returned to them.”

Uzun then unveiled the statement of their Union, stating they are “filing a claim against Turkey and Azerbaijan, as well as all the states that are arming those two.”

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.