Genocide reparation should be key effort in nationwide campaign – French-Armenian lawyer

February 17, 2017 By administrator

The international recognition of the Armenian Genocide requires mutual efforts towards abandoning dogmatic thesis and focusing attention on the reparation issue, a French-Armenian lawyer said today as he addressed an international conference discussing the future of Armenia-Turkey relations.

Admitting that the issue is not among Turkey’s priorities today, Raffi (Philippe) Kalfayan, a legal expert at the Human Rights Research Center, University of Paris 2 Pantheon Assas, noted that a small “cell” in the Turkish society (including mainly lawyers and officials of Armenian descent) nonetheless raise the problem at times to keep it under spotlight.

The expert warned against adopting a united fixed strategy which he said may lead the sides into a deadlock. “That’s the Armenian Genocide recognition strategy, which may imply a political recognition. What we get in return is Turkey’s denial. That’s a serious battle which may take a long time and which leads nowhere but into a deadlock. Anyway, time is really important for the Armenian Cause, especially when it comes to reparation,” he added.

Khalafyan noted that international law has long ruled out the criminal liability element, with none of the perpetrators being alive to be incriminated individually.

“This is why the Armenian Genocide will remain just a historical fact. So the only way is to demand compensation for which the underlying principle should be unlawful actions prescribed by international law – rather than criminal liability,” he added.

The lawyer stressed particularly the importance of demanding civilian compensation (instead of focusing on Turkey’s violations).

He also called for distinguishing between collective and individual compensation, ruling out the possibility of collective demands. “The question is whether the Genocide issue will be actual in that case. Very probably, not. The responsibility issue will be raised in any case and established through a change in official history. It is important, after all, to mutually abandon the dogmatic theses to achieve a global and open cooperation, because Turkey is not the only side required to work towards writing a shared history,” Khalafyan said.

Problem of reparations to Armenian Genocide victims reaches academic level

November 22, 2016 By administrator

In the past, while speaking of reparations to Armenian Genocide victims, everyone thought of unleashing war against Turkey without properly assessing the reality, Ashot Melkonyan, Director of the Institute of History, Academy of Sciences of Armenia, said at an international academic conference entitled “The Armenian Genocide and reparation problem.”

“The reparation problem is a most important one. In the case of Jewish Holocaust, Jews got things right and took a course of reparation. And the process started in the early 1950s and has continued since, while Jews go on complaining the amount is too small against what happened to Jews,” Mr Melkonyan said.

After being discussed with scholars, political parties and Hay Dat, the issue of reparations has reached the academic level and relevant demands need to be properly formulated – material and territorial reparations.
“Society may strongly oppose you when you speak of something new, but they get accustomed step by step,” Mr Melkonyan said.

Even Germans, who used to persuade Armenians into giving up claims for reparation, have now supported it after the German Bundestag adopted a resolution on the Armenian Genocide.

Drawing parallels between the Jewish Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide, Mr Melkonyan noted the difference is territorial claims.

“The Armenian Genocide was committed in Western Armenia, with the indigenous population deported,” the scholar said.

The proposals for reparation put forward at the conference will be considered and will form a volume in a few days.

There Must Be Reparation, Says Paraguayan Senator Who Introduced Genocide Recognition Bill

November 2, 2015 By administrator

Paraguayan Senator Desiree Masi (Source: Agencia Prensa Armenia)

SUNCION (Agencia Prensa Armenia)—In an interview with Agencia Prensa Armenia, Paraguayan Senator Desiree Masi, who introduced Armenian Genocide recognition bill in the Congress of Paraguay last month, said that, “this statement of the Paraguayan Parliament will lead to greater recognition and a rescue of the historical memory.”

“There was pressure, particularly for the term ‘genocide’” said Masi.

According to the senator of the Democratic Progressive Party, “that term seems not only right, but just. It claims for all what meant the extermination of the Armenian people and the recognition of crimes against humanity, which means that at some point there must be some kind of reparation.”

“That is what we are interested [in] also: not only recognition, which is very important, but subsequently the possibility of some kind of compensation,” added Masi. “It is important to remember not to repeat history again. Recognizing who was the victim and who was the culprit makes you know the history.”

“The two most important parties of Paraguay were involved in the public recognition,” she added, concluding that the resolution was supported by all blocks and voted unanimously.

Masi said that the resolution will be a recommendation for the Paraguayan Foreign Ministry, where they generally, “act from a joint perspective.”

The group on the repairs of the Armenian Genocide Issues Final Report

October 1, 2014 By administrator

The Armenian Genocide Reparations Study Group (Group on Armenian Genocide reparations AGRSG) has completed its final report “the resolution of Justice – Reparations for the Armenian Genocide.” The report provides a comprehensive historical analysis of unprecedented dimensions legal, political and ethical implications of the issue of reparations for the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923, including specific recommendations for the elements of a set of comprehensive repairs.

Before the formation of the AGRSG in 2007, limited to repairs to the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923 included speeches abstract notions return territoroires, consider particular aspects such as lawsuits against insurance companies, academic works and others focused on a specific part of the whole subject, and sometimes short precious works dealing with the issue but no overall or detailed analysis.

The AGRSG was formed in 2007 by four experts in the different fields of theory and practice repairs. Their mission was to produce the first systematic, comprehensive, in-depth analysis of the issues raised by the repair Armenian genocide. Initially funded by a grant from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) (1), members are Alfred de Zayas AGRSG, Jermaine O. McCalpin, Ara Papian, and Henry C. Theriault (President). George Aghjayan served as special adviser.

After a quick agreement that some form of compensation is an appropriate remedy for the legacy of the Armenian genocide as it is today, the AGRSG prepared a preliminary report, which was released for limited distribution in 2009 . Completion of the project was followed by three symposia. The first analysis was a panel discussion with three of the authors of the report, which was held May 15, 2010 at George Mason University in the United States, in collaboration with the Institute of the University and for the conflict resolution. The second was an important one-day symposium with the four co-authors and a number of other experts on reparations for the Armenian genocide, conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law through International Human Rights Law Association on October 23, 2010 The third was a lecture by two of the authors of the report, which was held in Yerevan, Armenia, on December 11, 2010 The AGRSG today publishes a wide dissemination of its final report, a comprehensive review and update of the 2009 preliminary report.

The final report of the AGRSG remains the only all-encompassing, systematic approach and thorough repairs on the Armenian genocide. The report examines the case of repairs via historical legal and ethical perspectives, (parts 4, 5 and 6, respectively), with a plan for a repair process based on the theory of transitional justice and practice (part 7), and offers a pack of repair mechanism (Parts 3 and 8). The report also includes a background on the Armenian Genocide (Part 1) and damage caused by it and its impact today (Part 2). Due to its wide distribution, this report fills a critical gap in scientific work and political discourse on the Armenian genocide. It will allow the Turkish and Armenian as well as civil society and political institutions of the information people and analysis tools to engage on the issue of the Armenian genocide in a systematic manner that supports the resolution.

The present time is optimal for the report. The year of the 100th anniversary of the start of the genocide in 2015, will see a greatly increased international interest of policymakers, researchers, media, artists and the public in the genocide. In addition, in recent years, reparations for the genocide happened a marginal concern to a central location in the popular and academic circles. Much of the focus was on individual repair legal cases piecemeal. This report represents a decisive step towards a much broader and global repair that is adequate to solve the vast damage of the genocide process. In addition, a real commitment, not denial vis-à-vis the legacy of the genocide develops in Turkey. Finally, in the last decade, there has emerged a global movement of repairs involving many groups of victims through a set of massive violations of human rights. The Armenian case has a place in this movement.

The full final report will be available in PDF format online. The introduction and summary of the final report are already available on the site.

http://www.armeniangenocidereparations.info/

Information on AGRSG and report may be addressed to Henry Theriault to htheriault@worcester.edu, +1 (508) 929-8612, or the Department of Philosophy, Worcester State University, 486 Chandler Street, Worcester, MA 01602, USA

1. positions and perspectives expressed in the report are those of members of AGRSG alone, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

Genocide recognition vain without reparation – Armenian historian

April 29, 2014 By administrator

The recognition of the Armenian Genocide will have no value without condemnation and reparation, an Armenian historian has said, commenting on the issue in the light of the Armenia-Turkey reconcilation.

“Today’s Turkish leadership is all the time making attempts to find a roundabout way to mislead [the public] from the main problem which is the reparation. We need a legal way to pursue all the matters as was the case with the Holocaust,” Ashot Melkonyan told a debate organized at the Armenian Center for National and International Studies.

The historian stressed the importance of drastically changing the Armenian tactics on the issue to focus more attention on condemnation and reparation rather than recognition per se.

As for the Armenia-Turkey protocols, Melkonyan said he has fears that a Turkish decision decision to ratify them one day may cause Armenia to follow suit. Meantime he noted that he has observed positive changes in the Armenian authorities’ attitude towards the issue.

“I am not enthusiastic about the Turkish intellectuals’ idea to recognize the Armenia Genocide. They are encouraging, but there are dangerous moments there,” he said, adding that the Turkish denialism which continues to date is a proof that the country remains the Ottoman Empire’s successor.