Armenian President says time for recognition of Armenian Genocide by Turkey will come

YEREVAN, JULY 12, ARMENPRESS. Armenians do not blame the Turkish people for the Armenian Genocide, instead that blame the leadership that directed the entire state apparatus to exterminating the Armenians, “Armenpress” reports President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan told “Al Mayadeen” TV.

“Recently I had an opportunity to talk to German media representatives and I told them that the German example of recognizing the Armenian Genocide is very influential. In a sense, Germany told Turkey to follow its path ensuring that it will not suffer from it. By recognizing the Holocaust, the Germans were not subject to sufferings. They came out as winners by seeing the reality and facing their own history. Their past does not exert pressure on them, while the Turks are under the pressure of their own past.

All the nations value their history, but it’s not a secret that sometimes there are individuals or authorities that lead their people in a wrong direction. If finally a particular nation gives an objective and reasonable assessment to that, the pressure no longer remains. And what do the Turks do now? They say that the Turkish people are not capable of committing a genocide. But we do not say that it was the Turkish people who committed that crime, we do not blame the Turkish people, we blame the leadership that directed the entire state apparatus to exterminating the Armenians. We do not blame the Turkish people now as well, today we blame those who deny. We condemn denialism. No one has ever heard a negative word from me addressed to the Turkish people”, Serzh Sargsyan said.

He expressed conviction that time for recognition of Armenian Genocide by Turkey will come. President Sargsyan compared the current situation with 5, 7 or 10 years ago, stating that the reactions were rather different then. “10 years ago no one could imagine that Turks could go into the streets on Istanbul or Ankara on the commemoration day of the Armenian Genocide and express solidarity with Armenians. Now all these happen and one cannot turn back to it. Time for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey will come”, Sargsyan said.

He referred to the Turkish reaction to the announcements over the Armenian Genocide by Pope Francis, mentioning that the Turkish authorities always do so when a state recognizes the Armenian Genocide. “Pope Francis is not among the individuals who can change their convictions under some pressures”, President Serzh Sargsyan said.