Pan-Armenian Declaration on Genocide Centennial adopted
20:47, 29 Jan 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan
Following the session of the State Commission on Coordination of the
events for the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide, President Serzh Sargsyan, in company with the commission
members and the participants of the enlarged session, today visited
the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex, laid a wreath at the Memorial to
the Victims of the Mets Eghern and paid tribute to the memories of the
innocent victims. Later on, the members of the state commission
familiarized with the preparatory works of the new exhibition to be
held at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute.
At the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex there also took place the
promulgation ceremony of the Pan-Armenian Declaration on the 100th
Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The declaration was adopted
unanimously at today’s session of the State Commission on Coordination
of the events for the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide. President Serzh Sargsyan read the document and
deposited it with the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute.
Pan-Armenian Declaration on the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide
The State Commission on the Coordination of Events Dedicated to the
100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, in consultation with its
regional committees in the Diaspora,
-expressing the united will of the Armenian people,
-based on the Declaration of Independence of Armenia of 23 August 1990
and the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia,
-recalling the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights of
10 December 1948, whereby recognition of the inherent dignity and of
the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is
the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
-guided by the respective principles and provisions of the United
Nations General Assembly Resolution 96(1) of 11 December 1946, the
United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the
Crime of Genocide of 9 December 1948, the United Nations Convention on
the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and
Crimes Against Humanity of 26 November 1968, the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 16 December 1966 as well as
all the other international documents on human rights,
-taking into consideration that while adopting the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the United Nations
specifically underlined the importance of international cooperation in
the struggle against that criminal offence,
-emphasizing the inadmissibility of impunity of the constituent
elements of the crime of genocide and the non-applicability of
statutory limitation thereto,
-condemning the genocidal acts against the Armenian people, planned
and continuously perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire and various regimes
of Turkey in 1894-1923, dispossession of the homeland, the massacres
and ethnic cleansing aimed at the extermination of the Armenian
population, the destruction of the Armenian heritage, as well as the
denial of the Genocide, all attempts to avoid responsibility, to
consign to oblivion the committed crimes and their consequences or to
justify them, as a continuation of this crime and encouragement to
commit new genocides,
– also considering the 1919-1921 verdicts of the courts-martial of the
Ottoman Empire on that grave crime perpetrated “against the law and
humanity” as a legal assessment of the fact,
– appreciating the joint declaration of the Allied Powers on May 24,
1915, for the first time in history defining the most heinous crime
perpetrated against the Armenian people as a “crime against humanity
and civilization” and emphasizing the necessity of holding Ottoman
authorities responsible, as well as the role and significance of the
Sevres Peace Treaty of 10 August 1920 and US President Woodrow
Wilson’s Arbitral Award of 22 November 1920 in overcoming the
consequences of the Armenian Genocide:
1. Commemorates one-and-a-half million innocent victims of the
Armenian Genocide and bows in gratitude before those martyred and
surviving heroes who struggled for their lives and human dignity.
2. Reiterates the commitment of Armenia and the Armenian people to
continue the international struggle for the prevention of genocides,
the restoration of the rights of people subjected to genocide and the
establishment of historical justice.
3. Expresses gratitude to those states and international, religious
and non-governmental organizations that had political courage to
recognize and condemn the Armenian Genocide as a heinous crime against
humanity and even today continue to undertake legal measures to that
end, also preventing the dangerous manifestations of denialism.
4. Expresses gratitude to those nations, institutions and individuals,
who often endangering their lives, provided multifaceted humanitarian
assistance and rescued many Armenians facing the threat of total
annihilation, created safe and peaceful conditions for the survivors
of the Armenian Genocide, thus promoting orphan care and the
international Armenophile movement.
5. Appeals to UN member states, international organizations, all
people of good will, regardless of their ethnic origin and religious
affiliation, to unite their efforts aimed at restoring historical
justice and paying tribute to the memory of the victims of the
Armenian Genocide.
6. Expresses the united will of Armenia and the Armenian people to
achieve worldwide recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the
elimination of the consequences of the Genocide, preparing to this end
a file of legal claims as a point of departure in the process of
restoring individual, communal and pan-Armenian rights and legitimate
interests.
7. Condemns the illegal blockade of the Republic of Armenia imposed by
the Republic of Turkey, its anti-Armenian stance in international fora
and the imposition of preconditions in the normalization of interstate
relations, considering this a consequence of the continued impunity of
the Armenian Genocide, Meds Yeghern.
8. Calls upon the Republic of Turkey to recognize and condemn the
Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire, and to face its own
history and memory through commemorating the victims of that heinous
crime against humanity and renouncing the policy of falsification,
denialsm and banalizations of this indisputable fact.
Supports those segments of Turkish civil society whose representatives
nowadays dare to speak out against the official position of the
authorities.
9. Expresses the hope that recognition and condemnation of the
Armenian Genocide by Turkey will serve as a starting point for the
historical reconciliation of the Armenian and Turkish peoples.
10. Proudly notes that during the last century the Armenian people,
having survived the Genocide,
– Demonstrated an unbending will and national self-consciousness and
restored its sovereign statehood, lost centuries ago,
– Preserved and developed national values, achieved the renaissance of
their national culture, science and education, bringing its unique
contribution to the development of world heritage,
– established a powerful and effective network of religious and
secular institutions in the Armenian Diaspora, thus contributing to
the preservation of their Armenian identity in Armenian communities
worldwide, the shaping of a respected and esteemed image of the
Armenian, and the protection of the legitimate rights of the Armenian
people,
– united and restored the national gene pool that was facing
extermination as a result of the Genocide, through a pan-Armenian
cooperation and extensive repatriation program,
– made its valuable contribution to international peace and security
during the First and the Second World Wars and won glorious victories
in the heroic battle of Sardarapat and the Artsakh war.
11. Considers the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide an
important milestone in the ongoing struggle for historical justice
under the motto “I remember and demand”.
12. Calls upon the coming generations of Armenians to protect their
sacred native heritage with patriotism, consciousness and intellect
and resolutely struggle and serve for:
– a stronger Homeland, free and democratic Republic of Armenia,
– the progress and strengthening of independent Artsakh,
– the efficient unity of Armenians worldwide,
– the realization of the centuries-old sacrosanct goals of all Armenians.