Wednesday, March 11 2015 09:06

Vice Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov made a report
on the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey in early 20th century at a
scientific conference "Crime of Genocide - legal and political
aspects" at the Charles University in Prague.  It is noteworthy that Turkey Ambassador to the Czech Republic
Ahmed Necati Bigal and the embassy representatives were present at the event.

 

In his speech, Sharmazanov addressed the upcoming
centennial of the Armenian Genocide. He recalled that despite the 1.5 million
of Armenians massacred in the Ottoman Turkey, the term Genocide was used only
in 1944 by Raphael Lemkin, a prominent Polish-Jewish lawyer, to determine the
Genocide of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey in 1915.  

 

Sharmazanov said: 
"Young Turks perpetrated the Armenian Genocide, as far back as in
1911 at the secret congress of the Ittihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti Party in
Thessaloniki made a decision to exterminate the Christian population of the
Ottoman Empire as they were an obstacle on the way to implement the Young
Turks' pan-Turkic plans. All the claims of the Turkish current authorities that
all this had not been planned beforehand as Genocide, but both Armenians and
Turks became victims of deportation during the WWI, are absolutely
groundless."

 

"On 24 April 1915 the arrests and massacres of
600 Armenian intellectuals, members of the Ottoman parliament, as well as
public figures marked the beginning of a crime which was initially planned and
committed at the state level by Ottoman Turkey, and which is known to the
history of humankind as the first genocide of the 20th century. The crime aimed
at depriving Armenians of their homeland.

 

I would like to mention that by the joint declaration
of the Triple Entente on 24 May 1915 the crime against the Armenian people for
the first time in the history was defined as a "crime against humanity and
civilization," Sharmazanov said.

 

He called it noteworthy that in 1919 the Courts
Martial of the Ottoman Turkey sentenced Minister of War Enver Pasha, Interior
Minister Talaat Pasha, Minister of the Navy Jemal Pasha, Minister of Public
Education Nazim Pasha and others to death by recognizing them guilty of
organizing and carrying out the Armenian massacres.

 

"Ladies and gentlemen! The Centennial of the
Armenian Genocide is not the end of the fight for historical justice. It is the
end of the one stage and a beginning of the other stage. The new stage means
new methods of fight for historical justice," Sharmazanov. 

 

He recalled that 22 countries throughout the world
have already recognized the Armenian Genocide, and the first among them was
Uruguay. South Dakota became the 43rd US state which officially recognized the
Armenian Genocide. The Armenian Genocide was recognized by such organizations
as the Council of Europe, European Parliament, several UN committees. A few
days ago the European People's Party passed a resolution condemning the
Armenian Genocide and the fact of the deprivation of the Armenian people of its
homeland by calling on Turkey to accept the history and recognize the Armenian
Genocide.

 

"We all should have courage to say no to
genocides, no to crimes against humanity, in order our future generations will
never be exterminated only because they are Armenians, Turks, Russians or
Czechs. We say no to genocide, no to racism and no to denialism," he said.