Narek Karapetyan: Armenian authorities turned Armenian Genocide  victims` fate into political tool

ArmInfo. The Armenian authorities have turned the fates of the Armenian Genocide victims into a political tool for advancing their agenda. Narek Karapetyan, a member  of the board of the Strong Armenia party, stated this in an interview  with journalists at the Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex dedicated to  the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

Narek Karapetyan, along with other party members, visited  Tsitsernakaberd to commemorate the 111th anniversary of the Armenian  Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. The party board member noted that  recognition of the Armenian Genocide has two important goals. First  and foremost, he said, it aims to prevent a repetition of history in  the future. "This is essential for genocide prevention mechanisms to  work.  And for this, its international recognition is crucial.  Armenia is located in a region where it requires international  support," Karapetyan noted.

Secondly, he said, it's important to remember that these aren't just  numbers, but the destinies of people.  "People who didn't change  their faith, nationality, or language, and for this very reason were  subjected to massacre. And therefore, it's strange to us that today  some people (the Armenian authorities - ed.) can use the destinies of  one and a half million Armenians as a political tool to resolve their  current issues," the party council member lamented.

According to Karapetyan, the Armenian authorities' denial of this  tragedy could lead to a lack of legal guarantees that the enemy won't  make new demands tomorrow and repeat the same actions. It is for this  reason, Karapetyan noted, that Azerbaijan is now claiming the right  to return 300,000 Azerbaijanis to Armenia. "This is a grave internal  threat to peace in our country and the future of our children. The  Armenian authorities are essentially asking us to forget our past, to  consign to oblivion the fate of the 1.5 million murdered Armenians.  Our demand is recognition of the Genocide. We need international  recognition of the Genocide, and we need Turkey itself to do so  sooner or later. This is the only way to restore justice in the  region and establish lasting peace between nations," Karapetyan  stated.

Because, as the party council member noted, consigning to oblivion  the fate of 1.5 million Armenians means allowing the same fate to  befall the nation in the future. "We must have good relations with  our neighbors in the region, but these relations should not be built  on bloodshed; they must be based on justice.  We are ready to restore  relations with Turkey without preconditions, but there is a need to  discuss the truth with the Turkish public. All this happened: our  ancestors were murdered. If we turn a blind eye to this today, then  we are allowing the same fate to befall us in the future," Karapetyan  asserted.

The politician also responded to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol  Pashinyan's statements that "it is necessary to stop looking for a  homeland outside the internationally recognized 29,743 square  kilometers of the state, as otherwise the country risks losing its  statehood." In this regard, Karapetyan drew the Prime Minister's  attention to the fact that genocide recognition and territorial  claims are different. "We need recognition of the Armenian Genocide  to restore justice. Armenia has no territorial claims against any  country in the region; we demand justice," the party council member  concluded. As a reminder, on April 24, 1915, the extermination of  Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire began in Constantinople, the  capital of the Ottoman Empire. It began with the arrests of Armenian  intellectuals-writers and poets, architects and parliamentarians-and  then escalated into the complete extermination of Armenians. As a  result of these actions by the Turkish authorities, more than 1.5  million Armenians were deported, starved, and tortured to death. It  should be added that in early 2025, the Prime Minister of Armenia, at  a meeting with representatives of the Armenian community in  Switzerland, questioned the fact of the Armenian Genocide in the  Ottoman Empire. Independent experts are inclined to believe that he  is either unaware that the term Genocide was introduced into  circulation by genocide scholar Raphael Lemkin only in 1944, or he is  deliberately trying to create a narrative that "this issue was  artificially raised by the Soviet Union to put pressure on Turkey."  The Armenian Genocide has been recognized by the Council of Europe  (1998, 2001), the European Parliament (1987, 2000, 2002, 2005), the  UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of  Minorities[7], the World Council of Churches, the parliamentary  coalition of South American countries (Mercosur), and the Parliament  of Latin America (2015). The Armenian Genocide has been recognized  and condemned by many countries and influential international  organizations. The first to officially recognize and condemn the mass  killings of Armenians was the Parliament of Uruguay (1965). The  extermination of Armenians has been officially recognized as genocide  (under international law) and condemned by: Austria (joint statement  of the chairmen of parliamentary factions, 2015), Argentina (2 laws,  5 resolutions; 2004, 2007), Armenia (1964 as part of the USSR, 1988,  1990), Belgium (1998, 2015), Bulgaria (2007, 2015), Bolivia (2014),  Brazil (2015), Vatican City (2015), Venezuela (2005), Germany (2016),  Greece (1996), Italy (2000, 2019), Canada (1996, 2002, 2004), Cyprus  (1975, 1982), Latvia (2021), Lebanon (1997), Libya (2019); On April  18, 2019, the Interim Government of Libya adopted a resolution  recognizing the Armenian Genocide. Lithuania (2005), Luxembourg  (2015), Netherlands (2004, 2018), Paraguay (2015), Poland (2005),  Portugal (2019), Russia (1995), Syria (2020), Slovakia (2004), USA  (2019, 2021); On April 24, 2021, US President Joe Biden officially  recognized the Armenian Genocide. Uruguay (1965), France (1998, 2000,  2001, 2006), Czech Republic (2015, 2017, 2020), Chile (2007),  Switzerland (2003), Sweden (2010). Turkey continues its policy of  denial of this crime against humanity.