The Genocide Committed Against the Armenian People by the Ottoman Empire Has Not Ended: Serge Sargsyan

The third President of Armenia, Serge Sargsyan, has issued a message in connection with the day of remembrance for the victims of the Armenian Genocide. This was reported by the office of the third President of Armenia.

The message states:

“At the beginning of the last century, the genocide committed against the Armenian people by the Ottoman Empire has not ended. The Turkish blade of oppression still hangs over the Armenian people and will remain a threat as long as:

• the Armenian people have not overcome the complex of victimhood and rightfully defended their rights,
• the crime without a statute of limitations – genocide – has not been punished, and lessons have not been learned for those capable of such atrocities,
• the current authorities of Turkey do not want to confront their own history and cynically deny the genocidal measures, displacement, mass slaughter aimed at the extermination of Armenians, and the destruction of Armenian heritage planned and continuously carried out by the Ottoman Empire and different Turkish administrations from 1894 to 1923,
• the servants of geopolitical interests unfavorable to Armenians are willing to forget and commodify the Armenian Genocide,
• the Armenian people do not yet draw lessons from history, do not recognize their mistakes and shortcomings, and while some foolish opportunists in the current government deny the facts of the torture and murder of their fellow countrymen just months ago with active participation of Turkey, are ready to plead for peace with the executioner at the expense of national interests,
• any Armenian who ignores or disputes the united will of Armenia and the Armenian people to achieve global recognition of the fact of the Armenian Genocide, condemn the crime and overcome its consequences is not considered a denier and traitor, and is not condemned,
• besides recalling the memory of the one and a half million innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide, we do not bow our heads in gratitude and honor the memory of our martyr heroes who fought for our national and humanitarian dignity and the survivors, and we do not uplift the spirit of our struggle,
• we do not coordinate major economic projects in the region involving Turkey with our national interests,
• we do not deeply realize Armenia's role in the region and do not recognize ourselves as a nation that has made a significant contribution to world civilization,
• and we do not understand the necessity of independent, powerful national statehood for our survival and the preservation of our national values.

Therefore, let us be a homeland-loving nation before claiming our rights.”