China should be engaged in Armenian Genocide recognition process

February 22, 2010 - 12:39 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net -
China should be engaged in the Armenian Genocide recognition process, according to the National Neoconservative Movement of Armenia (NNM).

“Resistance to pan-Turkism projects and preclusion of Turkish expansion to Central Asia and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China is an issue of national security for PRC. The recent crackdown on ethnic Uyghurs caused a chill in relations between China and Turkey,” the central committee of National Neoconservative Movement of Armenia said in a statement obtained by PanARMENIAN.Net “Official Ankara’s criticism of the developments in XUAR marked the importance of the Caucasus region for China.”

The NNM said it will hold a protest action in front of the Chinese Embassy in Yerevan to call on China to recognize Armenian Genocide and describe the Azeri aggression against Nagorno Karabakh as a consequence of pan-Turkic program.

“As Taiwan is to join China, so Artsakh should rejoin with Armenia,” the NNM said in the statement to be conveyed to the Chinese Embassy in RA.

The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan

The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke out as result of the ethnic cleansing launched by the Azeri authorities in the final years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought from 1991 (when the Nagorno Karabakh Republic was proclaimed) to 1994 (when a ceasefire was sealed by Armenia, NKR and Azerbaijan). Most of Nagorno Karabakh and a security zone consisting of 7 regions are now under control of NKR defense army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group up till now.

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.