Serzh Sargsyan: Ahead of 100-year anniversary of Armenian Genocide, Turks will really face hard times

• Monday, January 21, 11:48

 "Ahead of the 100-year anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Turks will really face hard times, I have no doubts, because they don't want to meet face-to-face with their own history and their European aspirations will not succeed so easily," President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview with RFE/RL's Armenian Service ahead of the presidential election of Feb 18.

"After 1915 the Armenian people made inhumane efforts to survive, to cure their wounds and to come out as a nation and a state again. Thanks God, our people have managed to do that, and I am sure that there are all the grounds for our people to keep developing and remembering the Genocide irrespective of whether Turks will recognize it or not," the president said.

If Turks prove brave enough to recognize the Armenian Genocide, the president said, the Armenian people will display understanding to today's Turkish people and the authorities that will recognize the Genocide.

"However, as long as Turks deny the Armenian Genocide, every Armenian should always remember that fact," Sargsyan said.

He said that the Armenian Genocide must be recognized because it is a fact and because recognition would prevent future genocides. This means, that an opportunity is created to liquidate the consequences. Unless the consequences are liquidated, which will take dozens of years, this crime will always be in the mind of our people. 

"This is a big pain in our heart. We tried to establish certain relations with Turks. However, everyone could see that Turks refused from their commitments. In the presence of the foreign ministers of the permanent member-countries of the UN Security Council we signed the document. And then Turks refused to fulfill the provisions of the given document. I think there are two reasons: Turks have complexes about their history and their fraternal relations with Azerbaijan hold them from fulfilling their commitments. As you know, Azerbaijan aroused a big mess around the above document," the president said.

The president believes that official Yerevan's initiative was useful anyway and Armenia's all partners made sure what a country it is and what a country it has to deal with. Everyone realized what kind of authorities, what goals and decisiveness Armenia has.

"Turks have not understood our pain. I don't thin that the 100-year anniversary is a divide. I don't think that we run a 100-meter distance, a meter per year, and reaching the final we will stop or wait a big victory. No, it is just a stage and we will achieve that stage. I think that Armenia and the Pan-Armenian organizations will intensify their efforts ahead of that anniversary. But our goal is not to make a tsunami in the world, our goal is for the Turks to admit the Genocide. I am convinced it will happen. The sooner and better, because denying genocide means continuing it," the president said.