"To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time"
The international forum “Against the Crime of Genocide” started today at Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex in Yerevan. The event has brought together more than 500 participants from all over the world, including political, religious and public figures, journalists and editors. Before the start of the forum, a documentary about the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Turkey was screened for the participants. In his speech, Serzh Sargsyan stressed that the forum could become an important platform for discussions on prevention of genocides. “This forum is one of the central events to mark the Armenian Genocide Centennial. Perpetration of genocide is both an aftermath of the inner developments in a given state or society, and failure of the entire system of international relations. Impunity is a prerequisite to the recurrence of the crime of genocide. It is impossible to disagree with the Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel, who notes that “to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time,” Serzh Sargsyan said. He stressed that Armenia’s active engagement with the international community’s efforts toward the prevention of the crime of genocide has been time and again demonstrated through the relevant UN resolutions adopted by consensus throughout years upon our initiative. “The most recent one was adopted in March of this year by the United Nation’s Human Rights Council. The resolution, inter alia, condemned the international public denial of crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity since public denials created a risk of further violations and undermined efforts to prevent genocide. Serzh Sargsyan also welcomed the two documents adopted by the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia this year – the Statement Condemning the Genocide of the Greeks and Assyrians Perpetrated by the Ottoman Turkey, and the amendments introduced in the Law on Holidays and Memorial Days. “In accordance to the latter December 9 is designated as the day for condemnation and prevention of the crimes of genocide, which is highly symbolic, as the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide had been adopted on the very that day,” he stressed. “On the Armenian Genocide Centennial we declare confidently in broad daylight that the perpetrators of the Genocide failed to achieve what they planned. Moreover, our response to the attempt to annihilate the Armenian nation is the state building, our ongoing revival that is now no longer reversible. I would like to reiterate that today’s Forum, along with the discussions to be held, shall send the following powerful and pragmatic message to the international community: the crimes of genocide have not in the least ceased to be a threat to the humanity, and the overcoming of their consequences, and prevention shall become a top priority. The lessons of the past simply oblige us to do so. The civilized humanity shall joint its efforts to eradicate eventually the evil of genocide, and its underlying circumstances,” Serzh Sargsyan said. Catholicos Karekin II said in speech that humanity has a moral obligation to fight against genocide because impunity gives rise to more atrocities.
