The bloodthirsty Turkish yataghan still remains a threat to the Armenian nation - Serzh Sargsyan

Below is third President Serzh Sargsyan's address issued in commemoration of the Armenian Genocide anniversary:

The genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenian people at the beginning of the last century is not over yet. 

The bloodthirsty Turkish yataghan still remains a threat and hangs over the head of the Armenian nation:

As long as

• The Armenians have not done away with the victim complex, the victim mentality by defending their rights with dignity.

As long as

• Genocide, which knows no statute of limitations, has not been punished and has not served a lesson for those criminals capable of committing such a crime.

As long as

• The incumbent Turkish authorities are reluctant to face their own history, they deny with cynical complacency the genocidal steps planned by the Ottoman Empire in 1894-1923 and carried out against the Armenian people, which resulted in the loss of homeland, massacres aimed at exterminating Armenians, ethnic cleansing, and the annihilation of the Armenian heritage.

As long as

• The advocates and servants of non-pro-Armenian geopolitical interests are prepared to forget and make the Armenian Genocide a subject of bargaining.

As long as

• The Armenian people have not learned a lesson and drawn proper conclusions from history, ignoring the past mistakes and failures, while some weak-minded people in the Armenian government, denying the facts of torture and murder of thousands of our compatriots with Turkey’s active participation, are told to kneel down before the executioner begging for peace if they wish to remain in power.

As long as

• Any Armenian, who ignores or disputes the united will of Armenia and the Armenian nation to achieve worldwide recognition of the Armenian Genocide, condemn that appalling crime perpetrated against mankind and overcome the consequences of the Genocide, is not considered a traitor.

As long as

• In addition to commemorating the 1.5 million innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide, we fail to bow down in gratitude, pay tribute to the memory of those heroes who fought for our national and human dignity and thereby raised the fighting spirit of the survivors.

As long as

• We try to fit major regional economic projects into our own national interests with the active participation of Turkey.

As long as

• We have not realized Armenia’s mission and role in the region and have not perceived ourselves as a nation that has made a significant contribution to civilization.

As long as

• We fail to acknowledge the need for building a truly independent, strong national statehood, if we are to preserve our identity and ethnic values.

Therefore, before being a claimant, let us be patriots as a nation!