Why does Armenian Genocide remain unrecognised by some Western Countries?
Rouven Adalian from Armenian National Institute talks about the extermination of Armenians in 1915, in an attempt to prevent Armenian men from joining Russian forces during World War I.
Only 26 countries currently recognise the events as genocide, including France, Germany and Russia. Turkey has never accepted the use of the term, after historians confirmed up to 1.5 million deaths.
The European Parliament, Council of Europe and the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities have also recognised the events as genocide.
Conversely, the United Kingdom, United States and Israel are among countries that use different terminology to describe the events, such as massacre.
Historians estimate that between 800,000 and 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks in 1915. Armenians have previously demanded Turkish government to recognise the genocide.
Rouben Adalian, Armenian National Institute, believes that the source of the difficulties created for acknowledging the Armenian Genocide is the Turkish government.
“It has avoided responsibility for the consequences of the Armenian Genocide and waged a near century-long campaign of denial, which has propelled the necessity of affirming the historic record,” he added.
The only avenue open to the survivors and their descendants for recognition of the crimes committed in 1915 has been through their own governments since they no longer reside in any part of historic Armenia or Anatolia.
“At the same time Turkey has applied its influence, primarily military and economic, to pressure governments to avoid recognition.”
In April, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has said Turkey will ignore any decision by the European parliament recognsing 1915 killings of Armenians as genocide, stating that it will go “in one ear and out from the other”.
Turkish government claims that the number of deaths is exaggerated and these events occurred because of civil war. International communities largely condemned the genocide, however no actions were taken against the Ottoman Empire.
“Recognition is one method of righting the wrongs of genocide where the international system of justice failed to find a proper remedy.
“That failure explains much about the recurrence of genocide especially as a domestic crime committed by a government, a gross violation of all the human rights for very large numbers of people.”
