A few days after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu’s ultimatum and threatening statements, only the officials of Armenia started to oppose, considering the opening of the fountain-memorial dedicated to the Knights of National Dignity, who carried out the “Nemesis” operation of the Armenian avengers, our internal affair and considering the intervention unacceptable.
Before that, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that “a wrong decision was made, and the implementation of that decision was also wrong.” Writer, public speaker, and translator Grigor Janikyan, the guest of the “Aravot” program “Areresum” (“Confrontation”), responding to the observation that the Turkish side is conditioning the opening of the air route by placing a statue, said: “There were statues of Soghomon Tehlirian both in Armenia and in the Diaspora. His grave statue is a huge monument in the USA. Until now, Turkey has not dared to give any reaction. In my opinion, Turkey is now exploiting the impoverished state of the Armenian authorities and trying to dominate as much as possible.”
Meanwhile, there are facts that the Armenian side could use. We quote from the post of former Minister of Justice Gevorg Danielyan: “a) Nemesis participants were not only not convicted, but also acquitted, including Soghomon Tehleryan, b) all the Turkish officials who died, including Talaat, in 1919-21. were sentenced to death by the Turkish military tribunals on charges of organizing and carrying out ethnically motivated mass exterminations. The other guest of the program, Meline Anumyan, Turkologist, and candidate of historical sciences, said in this regard that they should not have apologized for this step, noting that this refers to our history, and added another argument to the list: “It is Turkey that continues to glorify the perpetrators of genocide in its own country.”
Grigor Janikyan continued, mentioning that a huge mausoleum was built for Talaat Pasha. “I cannot imagine that a Hitler monument, such a monument, would be built in Germany.”
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We offered Meline Anumyan to answer the question raised by Nikol Pashinyan in the parliament regarding the fountain memorial dedicated to the Knights of National Dignity. “And, for example, if there was no such monument in RA, what would suffer from it, and what would we gain?” “Let me tell you what we are gaining with this statue now; let’s approach the issue from the opposite angle. I also teach, and recently I asked my students a question about “Nemesis,” and I was sad to report that very few of them were aware of this operation. In other words, first, ignorance will disappear, – answered the Turkologist. – Second, it has been three years since you all know our state of mind. And to overcome this defeated, challenging state of mind and to remind that there was also revenge after the Genocide, the statue’s installation is also essential.”
“As a resident of Armenia, I am deeply offended. Why should Turkey intervene concerning the monument erected in the Yerevan Park, and why should we not only swallow it but also try to justify ourselves officially? I don’t understand it in any way nor have an explanation for it,” said Grigor Janikyan. He added: “That monument is an attempt to restore and strengthen our national dignity.”
Both interlocutors considered realistic the pessimistic forecast that if this continues, Turkey may declare that the Genocide Monument offends their historical memory and it should be dismantled. “The more we give in, the more the appetite of the Turks opens up, and they make new demands,” said Meline Anumyan.
“Azerbaijani’s appetite is also increasingly becoming huge and predatory,” added Grigor Janikyan.
More details in the video.
Anna ISRAYELYAN
