Dear Guests,
At the doorsteps of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, let me extend expressions of gratitude towards the Canadian Parliament, the Senate, and the Government for their recognition of the historical fact of the Armenian Genocide of 1915.
“That this House acknowledge the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and condemn this act as crime against humanity”
Ten years have already passed since the Canadian Parliament adopted the M:380 resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide of 1915.
Two years before that, a similar resolution had passed in the Senate, for which we are thankful.
Two years later, the Canadian Government recognized the Genocide officially and we had been very grateful for the acknowledgement.
Since that time, changes have taken place on the International Political arena: some Parliaments and states recognized the Armenian Genocide, while others did not.
It is significant, that the ones who do recognize it base their decisions on historical facts and conscience, while those who refuse the recognition state reasons of political expediency as an excuse.
This discrepancy in reasoning is, in itself, evidence of the immorality of the politics of denial.
Not recognizing the Armenian Genocide is encouraging Turkey to persist in its denial of the crime.
There is not only a moral, but a political responsibility in encouraging denial. It’s not simply a matter of ignoring history, but, in doing so, influencing the present and the future.
Genocides continue to occur since the perpetrators realized that it is possible to annihilate people, confiscate their possessions and the simply deny the truth.
Turkey has been executing a strict policy of denial for nearly 100 consecutive years regarding the Armenian Genocide. Despite mounting international pressure by the majority of the Genocide Scholars, by democratic states that have recognized the historical fact, and by prominent Turkish Scholars defying the article 301, Turkey still continues to deny it.
It is an institutionalized methodological and carefully executed denial carried out with the same care that was taken to execute the very crime.
The policy of denial is applied both internally and internationally, mobilizing all of its resources to execute it: intensified to an unprecedented degree as the centennial approaches.
The reaction of the Turkish government against any recognition of the Genocide reaches levels of political hysteria.
It is noteworthy that the resolutions passed in different parliaments and the political voices of the scholars accuse the government of Turkey of the time of the Genocide, not the present government.
However, the present Turkish government is so adamant in its denials, so vigorous in its political blackmails and so crude in its anti-Armenian rhetoric that it is automatically accepting responsibility for the deeds of 1915.
By applying policies of denial in modern-day-politics, the successive Turkish Governments, including the present one, are placing themselves in a position of responsibility for the committed act. At the doorstep of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, the Prime Minister of Turkey, Mr. Erdoğan, presents condolences to the grandchildren of the massacred Armenians in 1915. The statement by Mr. Erdogan is woefully inadequate. It is nothing other than a baseless denial. The statement is a desperate effort to appear to be sensitive, all the while being insensitive and a transparent attempt of another form of denial from responsibility. As we enter the 100th year of the Turkish Regime’s denialist policy, Erdoğan’s remarks are not fooling the International community.
Le climat de terreur et les réactions instinctives des autorités turcs envers toute forme de reconnaissance du Génocide Arménien, ou le moindre respect accordé envers les victimes atteint des niveaux d’hystérie politique.
Le fait que les résolutions adoptées à l’échelle mondiale, ainsi que la position de la majorité des académiciens accusent formellement et d’une façon explicite, le gouvernement des Jeunes Turcs de l’époque (1915), l’intransigeance du gouvernement actuel reste entière dans sa négation. Il se responsabilise ainsi face aux actes commis en 1915.
Par le maintien de la négation, le gouvernement turc devient son propre ennemi, voire son pire défenseur.
Bien que la politique de l’intimidation a été lucrative par moments, elle ne sera pas éternelle- le gouvernement turc actuel sera le pivot ainsi que la cible de toutes les responsabilités; conséquence naturelle de ses intransigeances politiques atteintes de paranoïa.
Hier, le premier ministre Turque a présenté ses condoléances sans faire référence a un Génocide et se contentant de termes massacre et tragédie. Une nouvelle approche dans une stratégie élaborée de négation dans la perspective du Centenaire du Génocide Arménien.
At the beginning of my speech, I mentioned how grateful we have been for the unequivocal recognition of the Genocide by the Canadian Government; however, recently, with a certain degree of disappointment, we cannot help but notice the hesitancy of the use of the term Genocide by our government, undoubtedly under political pressure of the Turkish government.
Dr. GIRAIR BASMADJIAN
PRESIDENT
Armenian National Committee of Canada
24/04/14
Ottawa
