Downplaying fact of Armenian Genocide means pouring water on foreign  states` mill - Aram I 

ArmInfo. The downplaying of the fact of the Armenian Genocide by the Armenian authorities means  pouring water on the mill of a number of foreign countries. This was stated by Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I to the CILICIA TV channel.

According to him, the proposal to hand over the consideration of the  issue of the Armenian Genocide to historians is Turkey's idea. "This  approach was and remains unacceptable for us," the Patriarch  emphasized, adding that the historical reality of the Armenian  Genocide, planned by the Ottoman Empire, is not subject to discussion  and, therefore, does not raise doubts. Even states, parliaments and  international organizations have confirmed who its author was. "We  have passed this stage and are at the stage of legally resolving the  issue related to reparations. The first step in this direction was  the lawsuit filed in 2015 by the Catholicosate of the Great House of  Cilicia against the Turkish state with the demand to return the  Catholicosate of Sis," Aram I emphasized.

He recalled that by raising questions and creating controversies  regarding national values, the Armenian authorities are in fact  generating meaningless debates. "We must be careful because we live  in a world full of dangers. Geopolitical challenges in the region are  unfavorable for us. Therefore, we strongly recommend staying away  from approaches and thoughts that create new problems in Armenian  life.  Today, more than ever, the consolidation of national forces in  Armenia and the Diaspora around the pan-Armenian agenda is a must,"  said the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia.

Earlier, the Prime Minister of Armenia, at a meeting with  representatives of the Armenian community in Switzerland, questioned  the fact of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. "We must  understand what happened and why it happened. And how we perceived  it, through whom we perceived it: how did it happen that in 1939  there was no agenda for the Armenian Genocide, but in 1950 it  appeared? How this happened, we must understand or not understand,"  the Armenian Prime Minister noted.

Independent experts tend to believe that he is either unaware that  the term Genocide was introduced into circulation by genocide scholar  Raphael Lemkin only in 1944, or he is deliberately trying to create a  narrative that "this issue was artificially raised by the Soviet  Union to put pressure on Turkey."