On the Armenian Remembrance Day will Obama pronounce the word “genocide”? By Il Riformista

On 24 April, Il Riformista published an article by our Senior Research Fellow, Mr Ghazaryan, on the Armenian Remembrance day.

Here are few excerpts translated in English from the article.

(…) The first generation of survivors (of the genocide) avoided talking about the genocide for the fear of not being understood, for the lack of reference models, given the inconceivable extent of that crime. The negation of and the lack of sanctions for genocide combined with the atmosphere of impunity generate other genocides. This is another tragic lesson of the 20thcentury. Turkey after ninety-five years continues denying the genocide and imposes a unilateral and illegal embargo to Armenia to show solidarity to its ally Azerbaijan.
(…) Beside their historical extent as the first tangible example of conflict resolution through diplomatic means in the Caucasus geopolitical arena, the protocols (signed on 10 October 2009) have the potential for radically transforming the all region characterised by a militarisation out of control, regional fragmentation and unresolved ethnic conflicts.

(…) Since the Turkish Prime Minister has the majority of votes in the Parliament, he would start the ratification process of the protocols under the condition that Armenians renounce to pursue the moral recognition of the genocide at international level and leave the future of the Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh in the Azeri President’s hands. In this regard it has to be stressed that Mr Aliev is not known as a man of peace and a champion of democracy.The process is inevitably in a stalemate and all the joint efforts made by the USA, EU and Russia to discourage Mr Erdogan from making the Turkish foreign policy hostage of the most radical forces in Turkey and subduing it to Azerbaijan decisions have been useless.

(…) I do not know if tonight Mr Obama will pronunce the G-word but to me the most important thingh is that today (24 April) in Istanbul Turkish citizens dressed in black handling candles and flowers will commemorate in silence the lost of their Armenian friends and neighbours. This is the Turkey that we want in Europe, the one that challenges the anachronism Kemalist convictions.