YEREVAN—Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian became the latest leader to weigh in on a comment made by French President Emanuel Macron during a French-Armenian community gala, where he said that France should dedicate a national day of remembrance for the Armenian Genocide.
Nalbandian defended Macron who came under attack by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who called the French leader’s comments “populist” and continued to challenge the veracity of the Armenian Genocide.
“It is obvious that [Turkey’]e century-long denialist policy has failed. However, Turkey continues to stick to the stereotypes. Ankara does not shy away from distorting not just the historic facts but the current realities, including misrepresenting the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights,” Nalbandian told Azatutyun.am.
“In an open letter addressed to the Prime Minister of Turkey the International Association of Genocide Scholars has rightly stated that the Armenian Genocide is abundantly documented by thousands of official records of the United States and other nations around the world including the Ottoman Turkey’s wartime allies Germany, Austria and Hungary, by eyewitness accounts of missionaries and diplomats, by the testimony of survivors, by the decades of historical and legal scholarships, and even by Ottoman court-martial records,” Minister Nalbandian said.
“It is noteworthy that Germany and Austria have not only recognized the Armenian Genocide as many other countries have done but also acknowledged their part of responsibility, as Turkey’s allies of the time,” continued Nalbandian.
“The international community has emphasized on many occasions that the denial of Genocide creates a breeding ground for the repetition of crimes against humanity. Instead of labeling as populists those who have recognized the Armenian Genocide, Ankara needs to abandon threatening populism of its denialist policy and candidly face its own past,” said Nalbandian.
Bravo Macron & Bravo Nalbandian. I am proud to be a French-Armenian.
Jean-Louis
It is extremely hard for a Muslim country to accept Genocide, but if you refer to Jihadism, them they will accept, Allah’s way of punishment!
Every dog has his day. As in the past, history shows us the way. When the Mamelukes became a problem, we brought the Mongols and they raised Baghdad to the ground. With the Turks and the Azerys, give them enough rope and they’ll hang themselves. I thought that when Turkey shot down the Russian jet, that the day had come. Well, not that time. With the Syria invasion, there’s hope. We’ll bring the Mongols back. But this time they’ll be wearing Russian uniforms.