Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said that he will invite whoever is elected as president of Turkey in the forthcoming elections to attend the centenary anniversary events of the 1915 massacres in Anatolia which Armenians and others characterise as genocide. The events are due to be held in Armenia in April 2015.
Sargsyan was speaking at a meeting of the Commission that is preparing the anniversary events. Attending the meetings were also the three Patriarchs of the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Armenian Catholic Church, Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I and Bedros XIX Catholicos Patriarch of Cilicia of Armenian Catholics."Crimes against humanity do not expire. Recognition and condemnation of the terrible chapters of human history is the only way to prevent genocides. We, as people who survived the Genocide, have a special mission to rule out repetition of similar disasters," the President said in his address to the Commission
The Armenian news portal news.am said that the President noted that Ankara takes new steps, which sometimes are unprecedented in their form, but, unfortunately, reflect the content of the same century-old denial policy by Turkey. They repeat the famous Turkish position, trying to distort history by putting a victim and an executioner at the same level and by comparing the incomparable.
"The only possible step that Turkish authorities should make to get rid of the heavy burden of past is to recognize the Armenian Genocide. It is impossible to achieve serious results by half-steps," he said.
President told the Commission that invitations were being sent to the heads of several states to visit Armenia on April 24 and pay tribute to 1.5 million innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide.
"If the Turkish authorities are interested in truth, they must come to Armenia and stand next to the Armenian people on April 24. I do not think that after this they can voice the idea of visiting archives. Taking an occasion, I would like to officially invite the president of Turkey, who will be elected during the upcoming elections, to visit Armenia on April 24, 2015 and stand face to face with the eloquent evidence of the Armenian Genocide history," he added.
source: commonspace.eu with news.am
