The commemoration events marking the Armenian Genocide centennial established real grounds for a new round of campaign, says an opposition lawmaker from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaksutyun (ARF-D).
“And the next round requires not only recognition but also a call for repentance, fight against denial and re-establishment of justice through reparation,” Artsvik Minasyan told Tert.am, noting that the anniversary ceremonies reaffirmed the international stance on the unconditional recognition of the crime.
“And last but not least, the third factor was that the entire process helped unite the pan-Armenian potential,” added the opposition MP.
Asked what legal guarantees the commemoration ceremonies and the resolutions adopted by different countries and international organizations offer, Minsasyan replied, “If you mean the demand that should have been forward to the current Turkish state, it obviously added more lawful and stronger justifications to the documentation package that has to be prepared,” he noted.
As for any specific steps to be undertaken after April 24, Minasyan said he knows that the plan is being gradually outlined.
“As we аre speaking of the Republic of Armenia as a subject in its own rights, I really think that the steps are taking a more consistent turn. It isn’t absolutely about making the state the subject that puts forward reparation demands to Turkey. I am sure that the 100th anniversary events are an additional stimulus in terms of raising the Armenian statehood’s role and ensuring the state’s participation,” Minasyan said.
Speaking to Tert.am, Naira Zohrabyan of the Prosperous Armenia parliamentary faction said she believes that the developments in the past couple of days marked a highly important turning point in the Armenian Genocide recognition campaign.
“I am confident that there is no state or even states that do not consider the 1915 events a genocide; they simply to not recognize it because of the political and economic bonds that tie them to Turkey,” she added
Zohrabyan further stressed the importance of having a road map outlining future steps.
“We must have a road map of our own to know the steps for future and the agenda to develop. This is where our efforts should be directed to – as well as those of our friends’ – given that the issue is a problem not only for Armenia; the recognition and denial of genocides is one of the international community’s most serious problems. Let me also note that show over the Gallipoli [centenary] increasingly helped us make the Armenian Genocide issue more recognizable inside Turkey,” he added.
Asked whether she sees a sequence of specific steps on the agenda, Zohrabyan said she doesn’t think that it is a task to be dealt with by one person alone. “It is an extremely serious issue, so we need to involve specialists, including European parliamentarians working on international platforms,” she noted.
Commenting on the pluses and minuses in the Genocide recognition campaign before and after April 24, the leader of the ruling Republican faction, Vahram Baghdasaryan, said he doesn’t think the centennial events added more to what Armenia already had.
The Republican MP further warned against hasty conclusions ruling out progress in the legal domain. “We need to be patient, refraining from haste. The necessary steps have been undertaken to reach progress in the legal domain, so all we need now is to be consistent,” he added.
Aram Manukyan of the opposition Armenian National Congress refrained from commenting on any outcomes, saying only that the April 24 events were really very well-arranged.
Earlier, Levon Zurabyan, another lawmaker of the faction, highly appreciated the centennial commemoration agenda as a very serious undertaking. “We all had our maximum participation in that; there is really a remarkable progress and the Genocide recognition efforts were positive,” he said in parliament.