Safrastyan: Armenia should demand reparation for Genocide

YEREVAN, April 23. /ARKA/. Armenia should gradually start demanding reparation from Turkey for the Armenian Genocide committed in Ottoman Empire, Ruben Safrastyan, director of the Institute of Oriental Studies, said Monday as he spoke in Novosti International Press Center at a Yerevan-Moscow video bridge Time Doesn’t Erase Memory. 

He said that Armenians are gradually acknowledging the necessity of transition to the second stage of the campaign for worldwide recognition of the fact of the Armenian genocide – they should already seek reparation for the genocide from the successor to Ottoman Empire. 

“I think I expressed a prevailing opinion, at lease the view shared by many Armenian scientists, who think we should embark on preparations for the second stage,” he said. 

Armenian genocide was the first genocide committed in XX century. Turkey rejects the accusation of massacres and the killing of one and a half million Armenians during World War I.

The fact of the Armenian genocide is recognized by many countries, particularly by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, most of the U.S. states, as well as by the parliaments of Greece, Cyprus, Argentina, Belgium, Wales, National Council of Switzerland, Common House of Canada, the Seym of Poland and lower house of Italian parliament. -0-