The human rights activist is sure in this
Events to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide were held in different countries of the world in the course of few days. In the conversation with “Aravot”, human right activist Artur Sakunts gave his rating to all of this and answering our question as to whether our messages on the 100th anniversary events changed something, he said, “Regardless of the fact whether it was the 100th, the 90th or the 75th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, it’s all the same, it was to be marked. And in many countries in the world, where there are an Armenian community and Armenian organizations, which have some effect on the country’s political and social life, are able to raise these issues in the country’s political institutions and not only do demonstrations. This time, the 100-year anniversary is different with the point that it contained something symbolic in it, usually an extra boost in public perceptions is given to historical events making it more attractive. It is once again fixed that a genocide had occurred, an entire nation was destroyed, it is a fact, and parallel to this, Kardashian’s and Tankian visit conveyed PR elements in terms of awareness.
What comes to a purely political point of view, then, tell me what was done before April 24, which should obtain continuation. I am not aware of any action or plan in this regard. In other words, in various diplomatic and European institutions, no effective work has been done and in this regard, the Armenian Genocide this year is no different from previous ones.” To the observation that April 24 is in the past, but we stayed with us with our suffering and problems, Artur Sakunts noted, “What happened was a real show, and this entire approach, along with the forget-me-not, it fitted just in the logic of a one-time action, there is nothing in the perspective strategic and long-run action. It is also clear that the sentiment of some people associated with the genocide – the Pope’s or Germany’s statements, should be more viewed in the context of Europe and Turkey.
The 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide once again was an opportunity to record Turkey’s human rights-related, democracy and the Turkish policy-related issues. And it is actually so because the Armenian Genocide is an issue directly associated with Turkey’s becoming democratization and legal state, and I do not see here any action done by the RA diplomatic corps and foreign policy. It’s another matter that there is a certain information field that they could use, but whether they could use. I would say no because these users are located in the Kremlin, and on Baghramyan 26, the foreign ministry building are deprived of the right to use these resources associated with the Armenian genocide. In other words, everything is decided in the Kremlin, we are deprived of making moves under our own initiative. And what happened – it was just a one-day action.”
Eva HAKOBYAN
