Remarks by Ambassador Tigran Balayan at the Armenian Genocide Commemoration Ceremony in Amsterdam

23 April, 2023

Dear Members of #Amsterdam City Council and College,

Dear former and incumbent members of the States General,

Dear Ambassador Tahzib-Lee,

Սիրելի հայրենակիցներ,

Dear friends,

Last Wednesday my day started in Amsterdam, where I attended the unveiling of the memorial of the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda. The same day in the evening me and many of you were present at the screening of the iconic film “Aurora’s Sunrise” on the occasion of 108th commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. The film filled everyone with overwhelming emotions. It was heartbreaking to hear the Rwandan Ambassador saying that the same pattern of horrendous crimes took place in Rwanda in 1994. Yet it made me reflect about the difference of approaches to the same horrors, committed with a difference of 80 years.

Whatever we call it: national interests, realpolitik or something else, it doesn’t change the facts.

The fact is that after 108 years since the start of the well planned and intentional annihilation of indigenous Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire, politicians are debating how to call the atrocities against Armenians, although debates of historians and lawyers ended long ago with a definitive conclusion. The Dutch archives contain plenty of documents to that end and the fundamental work of professor Dirk Roodzant sheds light on their content.

The fact is that the Holocaust and the Rwandan Genocide are the direct consequences of failure to properly address the Armenian Genocide.

And the fact is that current siege of Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh by despotic regime in Azerbaijan, alerted by major international Human rights organisations as clear-cut policy of ethnic cleansing, is not yet lifted, despite the two month-old unequivocal decision of the International Court of Justice, and the Aliyev regime faces no consequences for literally suffocating 120000 people: cutting all lines of transport communications, electricity, gas, causing enormous ecological catastrophe as the only source of electricity - a water reservoir is drying up, tens of thousands of people lost their jobs and only source of income.

The fact is that the senior representatives of the Aliyev regime, Members of Parliament, as they call themselves, publicly labelled all Armenians in Europe, yes, those of my compatriots, who are standing here next to you - cancerous tumour of Europe, and those racists are still members of European Parliamentary assemblies, and are welcomed in the hemicycles in Brussels and Strasbourg. Isn’t this attitude encouraging them to continue to incite hatred and promote another ethnic cleansing? Yes, it is.

The fact is that impunity inspires new, more horrendous crimes, and while many of you here were advocating for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Dutch Cabinet, you were advocating for ending of the vicious circle of impunity, wherever it could occur, you are the true torch bearers of #NeverAgain. And on behalf of #Armenia, I have the privilege to thank you for your commitment and dedication to the universal human values.

The fact is that we can’t give up, we have no right to give up, and following last Thursday’s debate in the Tweede Kamer, I see that the change is possible.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today is not only about mourning for the innocent lives claimed by the Genocide. Today is a reminder of our collective responsibility to never allow the recurrence of such crimes. Today is a call for immediate and decisive actions.

We need them more than ever. And your presence here is also an action that is much needed.

Thank you all for being with the Armenian people today and, please, never give up.

Bedankt.

MFA RA
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