YEREVAN—The National Council of Western Armenians has decided to convene its 4th Congress of Western Armenians before April 24, 2015, where the participants will approve the legal and political demands that will be presented to the state and public circles of Turkey.

Before that, at a meeting on Oct. 12, the Council established a memorial medal named after Catholicos George V of Armenia, which will be awarded to Turkish intellectuals who have revealed important insights about the Armenian Genocide.

Writer, historian, and sociologist Ismail Beshikchi became the first recipient of the medal. He has authored dozens of scientific works, which contradict the Turkish official policy of distorting history. He started writing about the Armenian Genocide from 1970s and spent over 15 years in jail for expressing his opinion. In all his works, Beshikchi stresses that the massacre of Armenian in 1915 was the first genocide.

“In the course of my research I’ve come to understand that the Kurdish and Syrian issues are the logical continuation of the Armenian Genocide. Had the Armenian Genocide been punished, there would be no Kurdish issue,” he said.

The Turkish writer visited Armenia’s Dzidzernagapert Genocide Memorial on Tuesday to pay tribute to the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide.