Pashinyan: We are unable to change history, but history is well able  to change us 

ArmInfo.Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who is in Paris on a working visit,  attended the Paris Peace Conference. The Forum is being held within the framework of events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the World War I Ceasefire, the press service of the Prime Minister informs.

The Conference was opened by introductory remarks made by Paris Peace  Conference Executive Committee Vice President Trisha Shetty and  President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron, followed by  speeches delivered on the part of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and  UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.  Acting Prime Minister Nikol  Pashinyan addressed the Paris Peace Conference with a speech, in  which he stated, in part:  "Distinguished Heads of State and  Government, Ladies and Gentlemen, We have gathered here to  commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One.  This  is an event of exceptional significance called to pay tribute to  collective memory and to articulate our common message of peace.

Today, we, as the leaders of the nations, which participated in that  war, should first of all speak about the lessons learnt from the  tragedy of World War One.  When a state wages a war or is tempted to  solve problems by military means, it believes in its own strength and  victory. Yet, World War One became a global tragedy for all the  peoples engaged and resulted in the destruction of its mastermind  states.

There is a belief, that from the geopolitical and military  perspective there are always winners and losers in wars. However,  from the human perspective, no one ever wins. Wars bring only loss,  misery and devastation.

And regardless of our common efforts and appeals to learn from the  previous mistakes, these lessons are easily forgotten.

Even though one hundred years ago, the humanity realized the need to  ban weapon of mass destruction, regrettably it has not prevented the  creation of new generations of arms.  It was during World War One  that the Entente powers for the first time ever used the definition  "crimes against humanity and civilization", thus condemning the  Ottoman rulers for the extermination of 1,5 million Armenians. Later,  this horrendous crime was to be termed the first genocide of the 20th  century.  Nonetheless, only few decades later the humankind went  through Holocaust, genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, genocides of the  Christians and Yezidis in the Middle East, violence against the  Rohingya people.  As part of the lessons, learnt from the war the  right of the peoples to self-determination was set out in Wilson's 14  points. Later on it was included in the UN Charter, Helsinki Final  Act, and became a basis for the independence of around half of the  modern states.  As a result of World War One, the people of the world  legally established the right to master their own destiny through the  expression of free will. Here, in France I cannot but stress that  just days ago, France has clearly reiterated its principled position  on this issue: the people of New Caledonia were given the opportunity  to conduct a referendum. Painfully, this right is being exercised  selectively.  This is why, the decades-long struggle of the people of  Nagorno-Karabakh to determine their destiny has not received its  proper legal solution. In the 21th century it is absolutely  unacceptable that people's mere desire to exercise its right to  self-determination may turn into an existential menace.

As a result of World War One the world established the League of  Nations, the prototype for the United Nations, with the ultimate goal  of achieving peace.  Nonetheless, the manifestations of extremism in  the contemporary world are on the rise. We established those  institutions first and foremost to protect human rights. Yet, today  we are witnessing daily abuse of the most fundamental human right -  the right to life.  After the end of the First World War, many  believed that it would be the last ever war fought.  However, the  Second World War was not long in coming. The humankind entered into a  new phase of war and arms race. Unfortunately, up to now we have been  unable to put an end to it.  Moreover, we get further involved in it  every day.  This is why I attach high importance to such meetings.  They provide us an opportunity to reflect on our past, on our common  history of the humankind. Indeed, we are unable to change that  history, and we do not need to. But the history is well able to  change us to make our future better.  To this end, we need to learn  the most important lesson of World War One. No state can build its  success at the cost of others' misery, no one can gain freedom at the  cost of others' slavery. We put an end to the First World War hundred  years ago. And this is a perfect occasion to think of entering a  century without wars - a century of peace.  I do believe, that the  leaders that have gathered here, in Paris, are well able to achieve  it. And this will be the best ever tribute to the innocent victims of  the previous century." After the speech Nikol Pashinyan handed a  symbolic publication to the Peace Library, an illustrated book by  historian Hayk Demoyan entitled "The Armenian Genocide: Front Page  Coverage in the World Media."

The topics for the Paris Peace Conference are peace and security,  environmental protection, development, and inclusive economics.