ANCA CHAIRMAN CALLS FOR JUSTICE FOR GENOCIDE
news.am
February 28, 2012 | 12:46
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Chairman Ken Hachikian
offered a broad vision of how Return of Churches movement reflects
and also materially reinforces the broader international movement
to hold the Republic of Turkey responsible for a truthful, just,
and comprehensive resolution of the Armenian Genocide.
Hackikian offered his remarks, at the recently concluded three-day
international conference, “The Armenian Genocide: From Recognition to
Reparation,” hosted by His Holiness, Vehapar Aram I, Catholicos of the
Great House of Cilicia, and organized by the Armenian Catholicosate of
Cilicia. The conference featured presentations by dozens of leading
academics and thought-leaders from across the globe, all addressing
the topic of securing the reparations owed by Turkey to the Armenian
nation for the Armenian Genocide of 1915 to 1923. Hachikian’s speech
offered first-hand insights into the ANCA’s pivotal role in the
passage of the Return of Churches resolution, H.Res.306, and outlined,
in broader terms, how this effort fits into the cause of justice for
the Armenian Genocide and the future viability of the Armenian nation.
Hachikian stressed, in a speech that addressed the moral and material
aspects of the justice owed the Armenian nation, that, “As we approach
the end of a century in which all the moral and material costs of the
Armenian Genocide have fallen upon the victims of this crime, we seek,
for ourselves and all humanity, a new era, a better century – guided
by the ethic that the burdens of this genocide – and all genocides –
will, as they rightly must, be borne by its perpetrator.”
He added that, “The return of churches, Turkey’s surrender – voluntary
or otherwise – of the thousands of church properties it stole from
Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks, Syriacs, and other Christians prior
to, during, and after the Armenian Genocide era, would represent
a meaningful first step by the Turkish government toward accepting
its responsibility for a truthful and just resolution of this still
unpunished crime against humanity. It would, as well, mark a major
blow for the cause of international religious freedom, in a corner
of the world sadly known not for its pluralism, but rather for the
depths of its intolerance.”
Hachikian, explained, during his presentation, that Armenians are
“not seeking truth simply for the sake of truth, for all the world,
and certainly we as Armenians, know all too well the reality of the
Armenian Genocide and the ongoing consequences of this crime. We are
in no need of further affirmation. Nor of vengeance or vindication.
No. We seek truth in the name of justice. And justice in the interest
of survival. That is why we struggle so mightily against Ankara’s
denial of truth and obstruction of justice.”
From: Baghdasarian