ArmInfo.An international symposium marking the 107th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide has taken place in Athens, Greece.
The event was organized by the RA Embassy in Greece and took place at the assembly hall of the European Public Law Organization (EPLO) on April 27, attended by Athens Municipality representatives, foreign ambassador to Greece, scholars and representatives of Armenian organizations.
The keynoter Ara Sarafian, Founding Director of the Gomidas Institute in London, gave a talk entitled "Turkey and the Armenian Genocide: commission, consolidation and denial."
Geoffrey Ronald Robertson, a human rights barrister, academic, founder and joint head of Doughty Street Chambers mad an opening speech.
Elaborating on the Armenian Genocide, he stressed that was a premeditated crime aimed at annihilating the Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire for ethnic and religious reasons. The Armenian Genocide was a heinous crime that cannot be either forgiven or forgotten. Greeks were genocide victims a well, but, unlike Armenians, they had their homeland at that time and many of them could settle down there.
Although there was no international court to hold the masterminds responsible, the British, French and Russian governments, on May 24, 1915, condemned the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, defining it as "a crime against humanity and civilization" for the first time in the history of international law.
Mr Robertson, drew parallels between the Jewish Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide and stressed that Germany was Turkey's ally then. Later, inspired by the Armenian Genocide, Germany committed a similar crime against Jews.
Mr Robertson stressed that over thirty nations have recognized the Armenian Genocide, and U.S. President Joe Biden has officially used the term, but Great Britain and Israel are not among the nations. They have not so far recognized the Armenian Genocide for some reason or other.
The participants were shown a short documentary entitled "Blue Book: Evidence of Armenian Genocide" shot by Balista Media in 2015, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The documentary was followed by a lecture by Ara Safarian.
Speaking of the Armenian Genocide, Mr Safarian stated that, according to Turkish archives, Talaat Pasha had minutely organized the Armenian Genocide as he was well informed of the Armenians residing in those regions. Moreover, even before the Armenian Genocide, the documents of the U.S. consulates in Ottoman Turkey contained evidence the Turkish authorities were preparing to annihilate Armenians. The information was also received from different missions working on the Ottoman Empire.
Speaking of modern-day Turkey, Mr Safarian stressed that under Recep Erdogan Turkey has used the issue of the Armenian Genocide as an alternative policy.