It is the fourth time that Armenia hosts the Global Forum against the Crime of Genocide.
Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made a speech at the forum and emphasized that the genocide is not only a historical phenomenon, it is a potential threat today.
“Unfortunately, more and more we have started to consider the phenomenon of ‘genocide’ not only as a historical phenomenon, not only as a historical legacy, but also as a danger and threat that still exists today in different regions of the world. The prevention of genocide is indeed becoming a real problem. In this context, we Armenia’s representatives, emphasize the first genocide of the 20th century, the Armenian Genocide, which took place in the Ottoman Empire. However, I must stress that even today the threat and danger of genocide in our region is considered as a phenomenon of urgent prevention,” said Pashinyan.
Armenia’s Prime Minister emphasized that recently, in particular, representatives of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh are sounding the alarm about the potential genocide as a threat.
“I think that all of us and the international community should take these alarms seriously. It seemed that the trilateral statement signed on November 9, 2020 created the mechanisms to protect the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians from potential genocide, but, unfortunately, step by step later we saw and continue to see realities that make the voiced fears more and more objective.
In 2021, we already witnessed the realities when a sniper killed civilians doing agricultural work while driving a tractor in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Later, we witnessed more acute realities when the Azerbaijani armed forces invaded the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh, and this process was combined with several realities worthy of attention. In particular, when the armed forces of Azerbaijan illuminated the houses of Armenian villages with flashlights at night, played an invitation to Islamic prayer and threatened Armenian residents with loudspeakers, calling them to leave their settlements.
Of course, we have great respect for Islamic civilization and religion, one of the clearest proofs of this is the Blue Mosque in the center of Yerevan, however, I cannot assess the reality described by me in any way other than religious terrorism,” said Pashinyan.