Ever since Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s disgraceful attempt to raise unnecessary questions about the facts of the Armenian Genocide to a group of Swiss Armenians in Zurich last month, he and his followers have been making excuses for his deplorable remarks.
During the meeting, Pashinyan casually remarked: “We need to also return to the history of the Armenian Genocide. We need to understand what happened and why?” It is shocking that 110 years after the Armenian Genocide, the prime minister of Armenia pretends not to know “what happened and why.” I don’t think it is because of his lack of knowledge. He knows exactly what he is saying and why.
He continued with more fabricated questions: “How is it that in 1939 there was no agenda for the Armenian Genocide? And how is it that in 1950 the Armenian Genocide agenda appeared? And how did we perceive it, through whom did we perceive it?” Pashinyan must be told that long before 1950 and 1939 — all the way back in 1921 — the Catholicos of All Armenians Kevork V Surenyants designated April 24 as the Day of Remembrance for the victims of “Meds Yeghern.”
Pashinyan has made similar questionable statements in the past. To confuse the public, he regularly denies his earlier statements and claims that he was misunderstood. One thing is for sure: Azeris and Turks are elated that the prime minister of Armenia agrees with them on “questioning the genocide.”
Justifiably, Pashinyan was condemned by prominent Armenians and organizations all over the world. He was harshly criticized by Catholicoi Karekin II and Aram I, various historians and experts on the Armenian Genocide, the Lemkin Institute and Armenian organizations in Switzerland, Belgium and Armenia.
Given the fact that Pashinyan has denigrated all sacred symbols of the Armenian nation — from Mt. Ararat to Armenia’s coat of arms — and has repeatedly claimed that commemorations of the Armenian Genocide were prompted by external forces — meaning the Soviet Union — he has come very close to denying the facts of the Armenian Genocide, which is a crime in Armenia punishable by two to five years of imprisonment.
Pashinyan’s statement as to why the Armenian Genocide was not on the agenda in 1939, appearing on the agenda only in 1950, has a very simple explanation — there is no need for conspiracy theories. After the demise of Stalin’s dictatorial regime, which punished manifestations of nationalism with imprisonment, exile and even execution, the repressive environment gradually softened, which allowed the
In the meantime, both prior to 1939 and after 1950, Armenians in the diaspora commemorated the Armenian Genocide, asking for its recognition and the return of occupied Western Armenia from Turkey. Memoranda and petitions were presented to the United Nations and major powers in the late 1940s. Tens of thousands of Armenians marched in various Middle Eastern, European and American cities demanding their historical rights.
On August 20, 2009, Pashinyan wrote in his “Prison diary: the mechanics of genocide” and reposted on his Facebook page last week: “Traditional Armenian thinking equates the concept of ‘genocide’ with the hostile actions of the outside world, ‘the Turk,’ meaning, the enemy. The new Armenian thinking tries to perceive the phenomenon through self-realization, tries to perceive the internal causes of the phenomenon, which are hidden behind the genocided people’s thinking, meaning, our own thinking.” Strangely, Pashinyan shifts the blame for the genocide from the perpetrators to the victims.
There are two key documents that I would like to bring to Pashinyan’s attention:
1) The law adopted by the Supreme Council of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic on Nov. 22, 1988: We “condemn the 1915 Genocide of the Armenians in Ottoman Turkey as a grave crime against humanity and declare April 24 as a day of remembrance for the Armenian victims.”
2) Article 136 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia: “Public denial, justification, propaganda or belittling the danger of Genocide or Crimes against Humanity:
a) Public denial, justification, propaganda or belittling the danger of Genocide or Crimes against Humanity, where those have been committed on the basis of racial background, skin color, national or ethnic origin or religious background, for the purpose of provoking hatred, discrimination or violence against a person or a group of persons — shall be punished by a fine in the amount of 20-fold to 40-fold, or public works for a term of 150 hours to 250 hours, or by restriction of liberty for a maximum term of three years, or by short-term imprisonment for a term of one to two months, or by imprisonment for a maximum term of four years.
b) The act provided for in part (a) of this Article, which has been committed:
i) through publicly exhibited artworks, mass media or using information or communication technologies;
ii) by use of official or service authority or influence conditioned thereby — shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of two to five years.
Regrettably, Pashinyan’s statements parallel the denialist strategy of the Turkish government, which raises similar questions to cast doubt on the veracity of the Armenian Genocide.
Because Armenia’s judicial system is currently under Pashinyan’s control, no judge will dare find him guilty. But when he is no longer in power, an independent judge will punish him for violating the law on genocide denial.
Harut Sassounian
That Prime Minister Pashinyan should be impeached!!
He should be thrown out of office. I wonder if he’s taking
Money from the Turks.Charlie
Focus on the present will serve Armenia better. Yes Turkey has essentially got away with it. What’s more important is a strong nation now. Focus on the past is not focusing on ones present reality.
Charles, you have to give that advice to Prime Minister Pashinyan. He is the one who has repeatedly raised the genocide issue with his strange questions, without anyone asking him anything about it.
This traitor Pashinyan disguised as prime minister indeed turned out to be the devil in disguise. Nothing is sacred to this psychopathic narcissist devoid of any sense of patriotism. Everything is transactional with a price tag and everyone is expendable. Shame on all those who voted him into office, not once but twice, someone who came to power with his fake “velvet revolution” that has benefitted NOT the Armenian nation but only our terrorist Turkish and pseudo-Turkish Azerbaijani enemies. Looking forward to his ouster and indictment as enemy agent!
This armenian prime minister is like Pope Franicis, a pope that is not Catholic, spreading heresy and confusion..