99 - all you should know about the Genocide April, 2014 | Page 110

Suren Manukyan Candidate of historical sciences, Deputy Director of RA NAS Armenian Genocide Museum The USA is shamefully not recognizing the Armenian Genocide. The same holds for my country, Israel. Israel is morally obligated to recognize the Armenian Genocide. It was fascism, after all – it was torture, blindly following a leader, and the love of killing others. Genocide is the antithesis of democracy and a love of life. The Armenian Genocide was a real act of aggression against life, a call to jihad for the Muslims. Israel Charny Executive Director, Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide, Jerusalem There is this thinking in society that 2015 will be accompanied by a legal consequence of some kind, which will result in a reduction of claims or their legal power. In reality, this is a myth that has taken hold of our society and has nothing to do with the truth. Genocide is the gravest crime against humanity. Crimes that are classified in this way have no statute of limitations. And this means that the centennial by itself cannot have any consequences. The 100 th anniversary has symbolic significance – it is a round number. The Museum will commemorate it with more events than usual, in all probability, and with a greater emphasis, even though it is in reality just another anniversary. Centering our attention on the 100 th anniversary can actually be harmful in a way, because we might think that if we fail to do something by that date, then we have been defeated. Nothing will end with the 100 th anniversary. On the contrary, there will be new projects, new milestones, and new points of emphasis. The recognition process, the struggle, the elimination of the consequences of the Genocide – all these will continue. Until all the consequences—being deprived of a homeland, losing a homeland, human losses, the massive wealth that we left in Western Armenia—have been eliminated and reparations given, the issue of the Armenian Genocide cannot be considered solved neither on the legal side, nor on the political.