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.