Centennial Commemoration of Armenian Genocide at University of New Haven Remarks by Ambassador Mnatsakanyan

09 April, 2015

Centennial Commemoration of Armenian Genocide at University of New Haven

Remarks by Ambassador Mnatsakanyan – April 9, 2015

Dear University of New Haven students, faculty, administration and community

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the United Nations, I would like to express our gratitude to the University of New Haven for putting together this symbolic commemoration event and considering us among invitees.

Let me start by recalling Ambassador Morgenthau’s words when he met with Talaat Pasha, Minister of Interior and Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1913 to 1918, who asked Ambassador: “Why are you so interested in the Armenians anyway? You are a Jew, these people are Christians…” Morgenthau replied: “You don’t seem to realize that I am not here as a Jew but as the American Ambassador.….I do not appeal to you in the name of any race or religion, but merely as a human being…” Henry Morgenthau was US Ambassador to Ottoman Turkey and served in that capacity from 1913 to 1916.

We know that the genocide is the worst form of human rights violations, the ultimate expression of racism and discrimination, and is the most heinous crime against humanity. The Armenian Genocide was the most well-known human rights issue of its time and was largely documented by thousands of official records of a number of countries around the world, including the Ottoman Empire’s wartime allies Germany, Austria and Hungary, by the Ottoman court-martial records, by eyewitness accounts of missionaries and diplomats, by the testimony of survivors, and by decades of historical scholarship - well documented by the international scholarly, legal, and human rights community. Finally, it is officially recognized by a number of countries, several international organizations, including the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, the European Parliament, and the International Association of Genocide Scholars. 43 out of 50 U.S. states recognized this crime perpetrated against Armenians. It was an unprecedented crime aimed at eliminating the nation and depriving it of its homeland: a crime that continues to be an unhealed scar for each Armenian.

Unfortunately, the valuable lesson, which might have been learned from the Armenian Genocide went largely unnoticed. The 1915 Genocide was a crime against civilization and humanity, and its inadequate condemnation paved the way for similar crimes of mass murder in the future. If more attention had been centered on the slaughter of the innocent Armenian men, women and children, perhaps the tragedies of the Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda, Darfur and atrocities including those perpetrated by ISIS might never have taken place. This is the valuable lesson each of us must learn. The lessons of the past should urge us to address the crime of genocide, including by addressing root causes and combating discrimination on any grounds.

History has repeatedly demonstrated the devastating consequences of impunity, silence, negligence, reluctance or inability to address the phenomena of genocide, mass-atrocities, ethnic cleansing and other crimes against humanity. The denial of genocide is even worse; it is actually a continuation of the genocide, because it is a continuing attempt to destroy the victim group psychologically and culturally, to deny its members even the memory of the murders of their relatives. Today, the policy of denial of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish government not only vindicates the crime committed by the Ottoman authorities – the dispossession of Armenians - but also sets a dangerous precedence for the recurrence of new genocides. Their efforts to avoid responsibility or consign the Armenian Genocide to oblivion can be characterized as continuation of the crime and encouragement of new genocides.

How to prevent genocide and mass-atrocities? No doubt that a further international cooperation is required to facilitate the timely prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide. There is nothing new in stating that the role of education, including human rights education is indispensable, and we should continue promoting educational programs and projects that contribute to the prevention of genocide. No effort should be spared to raise the awareness of, educate and inform current and future generations about the causes, consequences and lessons of genocides and other atrocity crimes. We must understand, study and compare genocides and develop a working theory about the genocidal process. The international community and every individual state need to strengthen its capacities of early warning and prevention mechanisms. Preventing genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity is an ongoing process that requires sustained efforts to build the resilience of societies to atrocity crimes by ensuring that the rule of law is respected and that all human rights are protected, without discrimination; by establishing legitimate and accountable national institutions; by managing diversity constructively; and by supporting a strong and diverse civil society and a pluralistic media.

Combating the denial of the Armenian Genocide is not an issue that concerns only the Armenian people just like anti-Semitism is not an issue of concern only to the Jewish people. It is a collective responsibility as these are universal human rights issue. We all, in a civilized world, should stand united in fight against all forms and manifestations of racism, xenophobia and intolerance. The scourge of these phenomena, the rejection and vilification of the other have been at the core of mass violations of human rights, leading to mass atrocities, crimes against humanity, including the crime of genocide. The civilized world should underpin an urgent and decisive international effort against the growing evidence and spread of racism, intolerance and xenophobia worldwide, and their penetration into societies and mainstream political agenda.

We should be persistently vigilant about different manifestations and forms of racism and xenophobia, which often begin with words of hatred and insult, lest we forget that atrocity crimes are not spontaneous and isolated events. Words are powerful weapons of disseminating racism and intolerance. There is an increasing phenomenon of hatred and racist ideology on Internet. Hate speech, hate propaganda continue to find their place in the present political discourse. That history will teach us nothing is a heartbreaking thought. States have an ultimate responsibility to address these phenomena, to curb the dissemination of hatred, to ensure and implement policies to this effect. However, in our present reality we witness not quite so rarely states including ones in Armenia’s immediate neighborhood, the official machinery of the state, the head of state to be the actual instigator of hate speech and vilification of the other – a clear and manifest early warning sign to atrocity crimes.

The international community needs to further improve legal framework of genocide and atrocity prevention. The adoption of the United Nations Convention on Prevention of Genocide in 1948 was a milestone for the international prevention framework. In 1948 the world said, “never again.” However, the history of the decades following the Convention instead proved that the notion of “never again” was not always retained and atrocities has been and continue to be in place now. With the understanding that in a rapidly changing world we need new prevention tools, at the 2005 World Summit the United Nations Member States made a commitment to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity and coining a principle referred to as the “Responsibility to Protect”.

As a nation to have survived a genocide perpetrated 100 years ago, we, in Armenia, are deeply sensitive about the present realities of atrocities and racism, and therefore, it is our moral obligation before the world to combat this scourge. Armenia will continue its fight against the crime of genocide within the framework of international organizations and at the national level. Since 1998 Armenia has been consistently promoting the development of soft law on the prevention of genocide at the international level. In March the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a renewed resolution on the prevention of genocide, which contains important references to new mechanisms and frameworks of the prevention. It also recommends to the UN General Assembly to designate December 9 as an International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of Genocides to raise awareness of the Convention and its role in combating and preventing the crime of genocide.

During our recent chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, we declared combating racism and xenophobia in Europe and promoting universal values through intercultural dialogue among our top priorities. In 2013, Armenia held a High-Level Conference on “Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance in Europe” with a focus on racism and xenophobia in political discourse, as well as on combating hate speech and racial stereotypes in education, social networks and media. The Conference has also considered the role of national and European mechanisms in combating racism and xenophobia in media and politics. Few weeks from now Armenia will host another major event - a global forum “against the Crime of Genocide” comprised of two panels on “Evolution of the Prohibition of the Crime against Humanity in International Law” and “Issue of Accountability and Elimination of the Genocide Consequences”, and a plenary. An impressive number of renowned scholars, experts and politicians from various parts of the world, as well as the UN will be participating in this forum.

It is inspiring to see that a growing number of representatives of the international community are engaged in Armenian-led initiatives. Moreover, more nations continue to bring their weighty contribution towards the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide. We are forever grateful to all those states and peoples who both in times of the calamity and during the subsequent years, have granted asylum to thousands of Armenians, giving them an opportunity to survive and preserve their identity and become full-fledged members of society in their adopted countries. We are thankful to the people of the United States for having raised over $117 million—today’s equivalent of over $2 billion—to aid destitute Armenians in the aftermath of the genocide. Initiated by Ambassador Morgenthau and supported by President Woodrow Wilson, the Near East Relief Foundation helped rescue and care for 132,000 Armenian orphans. That massive charitable effort was the first international humanitarian outreach in the U.S. history. We are thankful to the city of New Haven, which provided a “safe haven” to first waves of survivors of the Armenian Genocide and massacres. Thanks to those efforts and help of our friends from all over the world and due to the resilience and courage of my people we could survive, build strong communities and re-establish our statehood.

While attaching importance to the recognition and condemnation of genocides as a means of preventing their recurrence, we also extend our gratitude to all those states and organizations who continue to reflect upon the crime committed against our nation. This bears witness to the civilized world’s sincere commitment to the protection of universal values, which inspires nations subjected to genocide to believe in the restoration of justice and violated rights, just condemnation of the crimes and inadmissibility of impunity.

I thank you all for your attention and for being part of this commemorative event.

MFA RA
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