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From The Armenian Weekly 

Garo Ghazarian, chairman of the Armenian Bar Association and co-chair of the Armenian Genocide Centennial Commemoration Committee of Western U.S., wrote the following in response to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statement on the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide:

The statement by Mr. Erdogan is woefully inadequate. It is nothing other than a baseless denial, yet again, albeit rephrased.

First, I suggest Mr. Erdogan reviews the elements of the corpus delicti of the crime as defined by Article 2 of the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Next, I suggest Erdogan evaluates the Turkish government’s policy of extermination of the Armenian Nation throughout all the provinces. Following the same pattern, prominent Armenians were arrested and on the pretext of transferring them to another location, were killed on the side of the road, then, it was the men’s turn, followed by the women and children.

Perhaps Mr. Erdogan can explain how the Turkish plan was anything other than an intentional act to exterminate the Armenian nation.

Specifically, acts such as the destruction of the Armenian male population; acts such as the tortures Armenians were subjected to during the Armenian Genocide; acts such as skinning Armenians alive or having their skin torn off by tongs or skewers; burning Armenians alive, treating Armenian clergy with particular severity; and killing Armenian priests through brutal tortures, by tearing out their beards, blinding their eyes, and cutting off their tongues and noses. Perhaps he can explain all possible means and instruments which were used in killing the Armenians: rifles, bayonets, swords, knives, axes, pitchforks, sickles, spades, ropes, and stones.

All this, in addition to having the Armenians thrown into pits, drowned in rivers, burned, and buried alive, expose the deliberate intention and perpetuation of the Armenian Genocide by his ancestors!

In the face of all indisputable historical and documented facts, Erdogan’s remarks today remind us of the Armenian Proverb: “even a cooked hen would laugh”—(meaning: his statement is ridiculous).

The statement is a remark by a wolf disguised as sheep, in a desperate effort to appear to be sensitive, all the while being insensitive, insulting, patently dishonest, and morally bereft.

As we enter the 100th year of the Turkish Regime’s denialist policy, Erdogan’s remarks are not fooling the international community.

As for us Armenians, they serve to empower us to press ahead, to continue to remember, to remind the world, and to demand and strive for Justice for our Grandparents, the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

Just like the Armenian Proverb aptly states: “the sun won’t stay behind the cloud,” so too, the truth of the Armenian Genocide, despite all efforts to deny it by Turkey.

Erdogan and Turkey should try to pull their heads from the sand and face the truth, if they can muster the intestinal fortitude to abide by the universal moral compass.

We shall never forget. What our minds know, our hearts will forever draw from, and we will pass it on to our children and our grandchildren for eternity.

We remain resolute to seek and achieve our objectives:

Recognition, Restitution, Reparations, and Respect for the memory of the Martyrs of the Armenian Genocide at the hands of Genocidal Turkey 99 years ago.

Garo Ghazarian
Chairman, Armenian Bar Association
Co-Chair, Armenian Genocide Centennial Commemoration Committee of Western U.S.