Armenian President: Kurds are our brothers in tragedies.
6/7/2020
Armenian President Armen Sarkisyan thanked the Kurdish families who sheltered the Armenians and assisted them during the campaign of the Armenian genocide at the hands of the young Turkish government in the period 1915-1923, describing them as "our brothers in tragedies."
In a lengthy interview with the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram, Armenian President Armen Sarkisyan recounted the historical events of the genocide campaign launched by Turkey against the Armenians, and said: "It has been more than a century since the heinous crime committed against humanity and civilization between 1915-1923, but The consequences of that crime still exist to this day and hinder the natural development of Armenia. "
The Armenian President said that the mass massacres against the Armenians in Ottoman Turkey began in the years 1894-1896, and they claimed the lives of 300,000 Armenians, not by default, stressing that the Kurds, Arabs and others are brothers to the Armenians in these Ottoman tragedies and atrocities.
Sarkisian stated that regarding the “genocide incident and its implementation mechanisms, many eyewitnesses, diplomats and military personnel, military doctors, missionaries, politicians, the international media, and others, left undeniable testimonies about genocide and the means of its implementation.” He pointed out its causes, including that: “It should have been That the Armenian question raised in the San Stefano and Berlin conferences in 1878 reach its logical conclusion by reaffirming Armenian sovereignty over the historical lands of Armenia, and laying a basis for Armenia's independence later. "
And he added: "This is what angered the Turkish Sultanate and then the Turkish Republic, because in the event of independence of Armenia, the strategic importance part of the body of the empire, which would cut the Turks towards the Caucasus and the countries of Central Asia, would have been cut off."
Sarkisian added: "Then the girl's government in Turkey benefited from the circumstances of World War I and launched between 1915 and 1916 the plan to exterminate the Armenians in Turkey, by carrying out mass and unprecedented deportations, violence and killings. On May 24, 1915 Russia, France and Great Britain made a joint statement Describing what happened as "a crime against humanity and civilization", and in 1944, Raphael Lemkin inserted the term "genocide" in international law on the basis of the Armenian genocide in 1915.
Regarding the human losses caused by the Armenian genocide, the Armenian president said: "The loss of a million and a half million people mainly affected the multiplication of the Armenian people, so our population should have been under normal circumstances today, not only between 10-12 million, but on Least twice that. "
The issue of the Armenians in the days of the Ottoman Empire and the events that took place at the time, which he described as "genocide", is still the subject of controversy at the international level, where the countries considered "genocide" while others refused.
The Armenian President speaks about his country's insistence on the need to acknowledge the massacres of the Armenians as genocide and says: "According to my deep conviction, the recognition of the Armenian genocide is not limited to the Armenians only, but is in the first place a matter of attitude towards human values, and for the non-repetition of this evil."
Although Armenian historians and Armenian personalities accuse the Kurds of participating in the implementation of the Armenian genocide by order of the Ottoman authorities, the Armenian President said: "We thank our brothers in the tragedies - the Greeks, Syriac Assyrians, Jews, and Yazidis, as well as the Arab and Turkish and Kurdish personalities and families who put their lives and safety at risk, and they Lend a hand during the difficult massacres of the afflicted Armenians, and saved many of them. "
Armen Sarkisian, who assumed the presidency of the Republic of Armenia in 2018, said: "We appreciate all countries and organizations that have recognized the Armenian genocide and express our thanks and gratitude to them. We also thank those countries that have opened their doors to these disaster survivors and given them refuge after the genocide."
More than 40 governments and parliament have recognized the Armenian genocide so far, the most important of which was the European Union's recognition of it as a "genocide", which led to major diplomatic problems between Turkey and the European Union.
On April 24 of every year, the Armenian people commemorate the annihilation of a million and a half million Armenians in 1915, who were victims of the scheme of liquidation, forced displacement, massacres, famine and diseases during the First World War in the Ottoman Empire, by the girl government of Turkey.
The massacres of Armenians were defined as genocide by a number of international organizations, including the United Nations, the European Parliament, the European Council, the World Council of Churches, and the International Human Rights Organization.
In 2007, 35 Nobel Prize winning figures signed a memorandum describing the massacres of Armenians as "genocide." |
