“ADMIT IT, APOLOGIZE, COMPENSATE!”. STATEMENT OF A PUBLIC ORGANIZATION IN TURKEY
The Association for Human Rights (NGO), a non-governmental organization operating in Turkey, has issued a statement on the occasion of the 110th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
The statement emphasized that the crime, which remains unpunished, becomes prolonged, and denial makes the genocide endless. “The executioner is acquitted, the victim is blamed.”
According to the organization’s statement, since the genocide and its denial, bloodshed, tears and crying have not stopped in Turkey, as impunity continues to manifest itself in new crimes that also remain unpunished.
“The denial of the Armenian Genocide forces the grandchildren of the victims to relive it in their daily lives. Denying the genocide means bringing up discriminatory generations hostile to Armenians, endlessly insulting the memory of the victims and forcing the wounds of their generations to constantly bleed. As generations involved in denial, we also bear responsibility for this and feel heavy shame,” the text said.
The statement also noted that in recent years, there has been increasing praise for the organizers of the Armenian Genocide – Enver, Talaat, Jemal Pasha and “Ittihadism,” which creates discrimination and leads to new generations being constantly raised on similar ideas. Ittihadism is an ideology emanating from the name of the ruling Young Turks party “Ittihat ve Teraki Cemiyeti”, which organized the Armenian Genocide. It was also noted that Armenians living in Turkey are forced to live next to those who deny the genocide, and Armenians living far from their ancestral lands constantly insult the memory of their ancestors.
In the statement, the genocide was explained not only by horrific massacres and indescribable violence, but also by looting and large-scale thefts. “This looting is not limited to the illegal appropriation of huge real estate, workshops, gardens, fields, mansions, houses, hospitals, monastery complexes and church territories seized from the victims of the genocide. Robbery is also associated with a topic that is little talked about and little known about. This concerns the seizure of bank accounts and valuables of the murdered Armenians. The value of this robbery in money in 1915 is estimated at $22 million,” the statement said.
The NGO also recalled that since 2005, every April 24, they have put forward the same demand: to put an end to denial and admit guilt with all legal consequences. Otherwise, the curse of genocide will not disappear from these lands, and Turkey will not have a good future.”
The statement was summarized by another demand message sent to the Turkish authorities on April 24 this year: “We repeat once again: admit, apologize, compensate!”.
