Sargsyan: Azerbaijan's methods are not much different from those of the Islamic State

Azerbaijan's methods are not much different from those of the Islamic State, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in his speech at the opening of the Second Global Forum Against the Crime of Genocide on April 23.  As the president mentioned the first forum the first forum found extensive response both with the expert community and thousands of people both in Armenia and abroad. It provided with an opportunity to the world to discuss anew genocide as the gravest crime committed by human beings. "That was a reason good enough for us to make this conference a permanent platform for those individuals, genocide survivors, their successors and, of course, states and international structures that are determined and consentaneous to make their contribution to this universal struggle", Sargsyan stated.

"2015 was an important milestone for us to grasp anew the one hundred year-long struggle of our nation for its right to exist and restoration of historical justice. The Armenian Genocide Centennial was marked not by mourning but the messages of gratitude and revival that we sent out to the world, as well as determination to make the Republic of Armenia one of the pioneering forces to lead the struggle against that crime. Our vision is crystal crisp: it is necessary to instill consciousness of the absolute inadmissibility of genocide in order to prevent such catastrophes unfolding", he said. 

Sargsyan recalled that 2015 was important in that context since a number of Heads of States, Parliaments, international structures, religious organizations, prominent individuals expressed their solidarity to the joint struggle against genocide by recognizing and condemning the Armenian Genocide.

"Today, unfortunately, the humankind still lacks humanness. It is demonstrated by the wave of denial by the genocide perpetrators and their successors. Denial imposes constant feeling of fear unto the survivors and their successors since those who deny or justify what had happened do not directly exclude the possibility of reoccurrence of that very same crime should there be appropriate conditions for that", Sargsyan stated. 

He pointed at the fact that the international legal documents related to the crime of genocide do not pay due attention to the international legal regulation of the issues related to the genocide survivors.  The same is also true for the international legal regime related to the refugees. "It is critical to understand how to define a special legal status for survivors of genocide and other crimes against humanity through the improvement of the existing legal mechanisms or introduction of new legal norms; otherwise, perhaps, it would be impossible to comprehensively approach this issue", the President noted.

Sargsyan stressed that any reasonable adjudication of a crime requires also recognition of the rights of the victims concerning their losses and suffering. "Certainly, it is also true for the survivors of genocide and other crimes against humanity. Necessary mechanisms should be installed, which will allow both recognizing that right and implementing it", the President said.

He mentioned that as recent crises in the Middle East have demonstrated, nowadays the issue of genocide prevention remains urgent and topical. Lately, the world has been watching with repulsion how the terrorists of the Islamic State have been torturing, beheading and mutilating innocent people, including women, children, and elderly people. The world is shocked with the barbarities that are carried out by a gang of thugs, who can hardly be called to justice and can be fought against barely with missiles.  Nevertheless, if the thugs that carry out atrocities are fought with missiles, a question comes up: what kind of responsibility should bear a State, a subject of international law, for condoning and carrying out similar crimes? Sargsyan questioned.

"What would you say of a country, a fully-fledged subject of international law, a member of the UN, Council of Europe and various other structures, a signatory of the humanitarian conventions, whose script is not much different from that of the Islamic State? Just a few weeks ago, during the large-scale offensive unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh, Azeri soldiers were not content with just shooting their arms: they mutilated elderly people, Armenian soldiers, decapitated them and cut off their ears and presented those actions in the social networks as a manifestation of heroism. It was all evidently encouraged by the Azerbaijani authorities. Is not it bizarre that a country that pursues such barbaric policy and violates all the norms of civilized conduct, these days is going to host a conference under the rubric of "Alliance of Civilizations?" Is this an approach to be tolerated? We must get to the point, when a display of such hatred shall not be tolerated, when any government shall refrain from such conduct mindful that it may be hold responsible for it.

"We as the international community must swiftly and resolutely eradicate all such instances of genocidal conduct wherever they should occur, as it was done some days ago by the leadership and public of Sweden with regard to the hate speech directed against Armenians by the Turkish nationalist Barbaros Leylani. This requires our concerted effort, perhaps even subordination of geopolitical interests, ability to voice strict and targeted condemnation. Unless we are able to nip such conduct in the bud, we will have to deal with the elimination of their various and unpredictable consequences; we will continue to face various crimes nourished by hatred - crimes, among which are the terrorist activities that gain new range and scale on our continent", President Sargsyan emphasized.