Sargsyan: fight against genocides must take on new scale
08.07.2015,
21:07
The international fight against the crime of genocide should get a new scale, a new content and use all possible platforms, Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan said today at the opening of the 12th conference of the International Association of Genocide Scholars in Yerevan.
YEREVAN, July 8. / ARKA /. The international fight against the crime of genocide should adopt a new scale, get a new content and use all possible platforms, Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan said today at the opening of the 12th conference of the International Association of Genocide Scholars in Yerevan.
"I am honored to welcome you in Armenia and announce the start of this representative conference. I am proud that as a people that was subjected to the most terrible crimes against humanity - genocide, we have revived and built the statehood and today we have the opportunity to speak as one of the vanguard fighters against the crime of genocide," he said.
He noted that in parallel with the development of international law, the progress of political thought the humanity was supposed to overcome the horror of the crime of genocide.
"Unfortunately, today we are witnessing genocidal acts, propaganda of xenophobia, promotion of Nazi ideology. We see massacres, atrocities, discrimination on religious, ethnic and linguistic grounds, we see attempts of partial or complete destruction of certain groups," said Sargsyan.
According to him, given the multi-layered nature of this crime, it is essential that the process of characterization, prevention, cessation, condemnation and punishment for genocidal acts is fully grounded on a scientific basis.
The conference dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, as well as the 70th anniversaries of the Second World War and the Holocaust, is being attended by more than a hundred of prominent scholars in the field of genocide studies and related fields.
The Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the twentieth century. According to Armenian and many other historians, up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed starting in 1915 in a systematic campaign by the government of Turkey.
Turkey has been denying it for decades. The Armenian genocide was recognized by tens of countries. The first was Uruguay that did so in 1965. Other nations are Russia, France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Canada, Venezuela, Argentina, 43 U.S. states.
It was recognized also by the Vatican, the European Parliament, the World Council of Churches and other international organizations. ----0-----
"I am honored to welcome you in Armenia and announce the start of this representative conference. I am proud that as a people that was subjected to the most terrible crimes against humanity - genocide, we have revived and built the statehood and today we have the opportunity to speak as one of the vanguard fighters against the crime of genocide," he said.
He noted that in parallel with the development of international law, the progress of political thought the humanity was supposed to overcome the horror of the crime of genocide.
"Unfortunately, today we are witnessing genocidal acts, propaganda of xenophobia, promotion of Nazi ideology. We see massacres, atrocities, discrimination on religious, ethnic and linguistic grounds, we see attempts of partial or complete destruction of certain groups," said Sargsyan.
According to him, given the multi-layered nature of this crime, it is essential that the process of characterization, prevention, cessation, condemnation and punishment for genocidal acts is fully grounded on a scientific basis.
The conference dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, as well as the 70th anniversaries of the Second World War and the Holocaust, is being attended by more than a hundred of prominent scholars in the field of genocide studies and related fields.
The Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the twentieth century. According to Armenian and many other historians, up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed starting in 1915 in a systematic campaign by the government of Turkey.
Turkey has been denying it for decades. The Armenian genocide was recognized by tens of countries. The first was Uruguay that did so in 1965. Other nations are Russia, France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Canada, Venezuela, Argentina, 43 U.S. states.
It was recognized also by the Vatican, the European Parliament, the World Council of Churches and other international organizations. ----0-----
