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YEREVAN, APRIL 23, ARMENPRESS: Strategic and geopolitical issues in international justice and historiography have always played a key role. Perhaps this is the reason that the world makes cautious approach in criticizing Turkey for the Armenian Genocide. In an interview with “Armenpress” professor of Sociology and Law at Minessota University Joachim Savelsberg said this, who arrived in Armenia to participate “Against the Crime of Genocide” second Global forum. He spoke about the salience of Turkey on the Armenian Genocide and the necessity of the condemnation of crime against humanity.
-Mrs. Saqvelsberg, century has passed after the Armenian Genocide, but still Turkey continues to deny the historical truth. How would you comment on this stance of Turkish Republic?
-I have skeptical and critical approach towards Turkey’s stance on this issue, since it contradicts to the conclusions of all historians. It also contradicts to the tendency of the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and also to those few Turkish young intellectuals who conduct research on this topic. I think that it is against the interests of Turkey since today we live in a world where the governments of states take responsibility and ask for forgiveness for human rights crude violations committed in the past. It is very paradoxical and strange Turkey still insists that genocide did not take place. I know that Erdogan made concession statement two years ago, however, he refused to recognize the Genocide.
-More than 100 years passed, many scientists wrote numerous works on this topic stating that what happened in 1915 is Genocide. However, till now the number of those countries which have officially recognized the Genocide is very small. Overall, the world continues to keep silence. According to you, what is the reason of this silence?
-Strategic and geographical issues have always played a key role in international justice and historiography. Turkey is in important positions, it is a member of NATO, bordering the Middle East and the Arab world. The West depends on the cooperation with Turkey to keep borders safe in the south. And now we also have the issue of Syrian refugees. Therefore, I think that the world keeps very cautious approach in terms of criticizing Turkey, and this is the reason that the process of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide moves relatively slowly.
-And, nevertheless, do you have any positive expectations in this regard or not?
-Yes, I positively assess the situation since there is a growing tendency of recognition. If we take into account the development of Turkish intellectual level, we can see that there is a growing number of young journalists and scientists who recognize the Genocide, and in my opinion, this is a development that cannot be stopped.
-Don’t you think that if the Genocide of the 20th century would be condemned, there would not be any genocides?
-After the Armenian Genocide numerous other genocides took place which were widely recognized, for instance, the Holocaust. However, after that genocides repeated such as in Rwanda, Darfur, Syria and other places. In my opinion the recognition of genocide cannot guarantee the prevention of future genocides. However, at the same time, I believe that it is necessary. Historically, when we throw a glance, we see that those government officials, who were responsible for genocides, were perceived as heroes. However, it was a long period when the genocides were not being recognized, whereas, nowadays, the situation is different. The attitude towards that people has also changed. It is difficult to answer to your question, I repeat that the recognition of the genocide cannot guarantee the repetition of it in the future, however, maybe, it will contribute to the minimization of such kind of crimes in the long historical period.
-I would like You to speak about the reparation issue since the recognition of genocide proposes also reparation. Don’t you think that Turkey continues to deny what happened in order to avoid the reparation issue?
-It is very difficult to observe what financial consequences will be raised after the recognition of the genocide. There can be even a talk on territorial reparation. But if the talk will refer only to financial reparation, I think that it will create a serious obstacle in the issue of the Armenian Genocide recognition by Turkey.
-What is your call to the world to prevent future genocides?
-I would like to bring your attention on the words by scholar at Harvard Law School Martha Minow who said that the 20th century is not different from other centuries in terms of committed massacres. Unfortunately, many previous centuries can compete with the scale of massacres committed in the 20th century. However, the 20 the century differs from other centuries since humanity for the first time tries to overcome serious institutional issues related to genocide and mass massacres. During the history of mankind we have Geneva Convention, UN Convention on the Human Rights and other structures. These are all new historical developments, and I think that we should have patience to see and investigate their work. We should continue our work to develop those institutions which were created in the 20th century as a result of the Genocide.
Interview by Araks Kasyan