Our Genocide recognition efforts have been occasional, says Armenian ethnographer
In an interview with Tert.am, ethnographer Hranush Kharatyan said she doesn’t think Armenia has been consistent enough in its Genocide recognition efforts. She said all the attempts towards achieving a recognition and condemnation of the heinous crime have so far born an occasional character, without ever being part of a well-arranged program that could yield specific results.
The US ambassador said yesterday that President Obama would make a “strong” statement on the Armenian Genocide. Although we, the Armenians, admit at times that we do not have to expect the world’s powerful figures to use such words and phrases, we do so every year. Do you think such expectations are justified?
To be frank, I don’t think the Armenian community is running out of breath in anticipation of something. I think it is more the press that touches upon it, as well as the American circles which very actively address the topic. I guess it is one of their manners or tools of demonstrating a political activity. I don’t think our society is waiting, but I am sure we find the Genocide recognition path something to be passed by others. Also, we, the Armenians, very much like to discuss why others do not do a thing and never state that the Turkish authorities, the Russians, the Europeans and others provided help … With everything said, we are now waiting for others to solve a problem. We do not have a program of our own. The Genocide centenary has drawn near, but we do not have a program today to say what we expect from the Genocide recognition. Suppose the United States recognizes it as well, and even Turkey does, what step will entail? Who is to solve this problem? Is it the United States, the UN or the European Union? Who is to decide what steps will follow the Genocide recognition.
If I am not mistaken, international recognition was announced to be the target.
We sought for that for quite a long time. Although, for the beginning, after the breakaway from the Soviet area – when the memories that Genocide is a prohibited topic to write or speak about were fresh – the Armenian Genocide issue seemed to be developing on Armenia’s foreign policy agenda. So what was the problem? Gradually - at times even in an unplanned way I think - or thanks to different Armenian ambassadors’ efforts or specific countries’ interests (in terms of exerting pressure upon Turkey) or the endeavors of states that were friendly to Armenia, we gradually saw recognitions by different countries
Well, shouldn’t we have done that?
I don’t argue, but that closed the way to our thought. The new further thought stopped functioning in that direction, both here and in the Diaspora.
So do you think the Armenian Genocide was an episodic issue on our agenda?
I would say occasional, because episodic implies an episode of a program. I do not know a program where [genocide] was an episode; I know only occasions.
Ms Kharatyan, I know a list of events will be unveiled and different commissions will be created to organize conferencea here and in the Diaspora. My question has a broader specter. Do you think that in case our expectations are met after the centenary – in part or in fragments – it will be necessary to adopt a new approach to the issue?
In principle, even the phrase "centennial events" sounds offensive to me. We should have had at least a program to enter the centennial. As for the centennial per se, I think there will be kind of … commemoration events, addresses, historical events, but no single political move. That’s to say, Armenia, as a state, does not seem to have a small message or a clearly worded problem to address to Turkey. The question now is whether it will be at the centennial or after the centennial or whether or not it will ever happen, especially on the threshold of the [Eurasian] Customs Union and other Eurasian integration processes. It is questionable at all if we will ever have the issue outlined given that we do not have time to have our sovereignty. We haven’t done anything, so it is very questionable if we can have something that will be an issue only for the Armenians, without having anything to do with the Eurasian processes or the Customs Union (where we have Khazakstan which is known to have its position) … We are now embarking on a process which will absolutely push such an important issue to the background.
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