Justice requires world recognize Armenian genocide - Sargsyan
24/04/2009 13:20 YEREVAN, April 24 (RIA Novosti) - Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said on Friday that international recognition and condemnation of the genocide of Armenians was necessary to restore historical justice.
Armenia commemorates on Friday the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians at the end of the Ottoman period in 1915.
"Crimes against humanity have no limitation either in people's memory or in the face of history. The international recognition and condemnation of the genocide of Armenians is to the Armenian people and the republic of Armenia a matter of restoring historical justice," Sargsyan said in his address to the nation.
The president conveyed "sincere gratitude" to countries, organizations and people who denounce crimes against humanity and contribute to their prevention.
A number of states have recognized the killings in Armenia as the first genocide of the 20th century, including Russia, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Greece, as well as 42 of the 50 U.S. states. The Vatican, the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches have also denounced the killings as genocide. Uruguay was the first to do so in 1965.
Turkey has always urged Armenia to end attempts to have the killings recognized as an act of genocide.
Turkish and Armenian envoys have been holding closed talks in Switzerland for the past two years aimed at normalizing relations.
The two countries came to an agreement Thursday on a "roadmap" aimed at normalizing bilateral relations.
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