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April 21, 2009
Yerevan—Approximately seventy young members and supporters of the Heritage Party today held a public march in Yerevan. Despite the unsubstantiated impediments by the police force—as, in accordance with the initial arrangement, the number of the procession’s participants had not exceeded one hundred and, therefore, there were no legal grounds for informing Town Hall, due to the limited nature of the event—the event started from the park adjacent to the statue of the renowned painter Martiros Sarian and its final destination was the Embassy of the United States. Throughout the march, the participants held in their hands the national flag of Armenia, Heritage’s banners, and placards representing the state flags of the twenty-one countries which formally have recognized the 1915-1923 Genocide of the Armenians. Upon arrival at the US Embassy, the young marchers delivered to Stephen Banks, Head of the Embassy’s Political/Economic Section, their message addressed to the newly elected US President, Barack Hussein Obama. In the message, the participants urge the President to officially acknowledge not only the Genocide of the Armenian people, but also the great dispossession of their homeland. The aforesaid message is presented below.
President Barack Hussein Obama II Dear Mr. President: We, the young members of the Heritage Party of Armenia, are extremely enthusiastic over your recent election to the office of the President of the United States of America. We are full of hope that your selection to this post will bring a new impetus to the progress—including the protection of human rights, the pacific resolution of conflicts, and the pre-eminence of the precepts of liberty and justice—of the American people and the whole of humanity. We were especially encouraged by your pre-election promise toward formally acknowledging the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and, as President of the United States and after a twenty-year interval, calling it like it is once again. As a civilizational challenge and a permanent guarantee for regional security and stability, we believe it is highly important for all nations and countries to reflect on their history and to face it head-on, no matter how bitter that may be. We, the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the small number of genocide survivors from Mush, Sasun, Cilicia, Kars, Surmalu, Erzerum, Malatia, Sebastia, Arabkir, Zeitun, Marash, and Butania—and the representatives of a new generation—are patiently waiting for the day when, in keeping with the letter and spirit of international law, we will be given the chance to return to Western Armenia—our Motherland which was taken away from us unlawfully and as a consequence of the Genocide—and to once more own our estates: our lands and homes. We condemn any and all attempt by the international bodies toward applying double standards for any regional nation, circumnavigating international law, and solely considering who is stronger or whose natural resources are greater. Mr. President, we, the youth of Heritage, a national liberal party, urge you to recognize not solely the Genocide of the Armenian people that was perpetrated by the Turkish state from 1915 to 1922, but also the great dispossession of their homeland. In result of this dispossession, an entire nation lost nearly ninety percent of its historical motherland, those territories where it had dwelled for millennia and created a rich civilization and great cultural treasures. Yet we still have great hopes on sound judgment and believe that the problematic issues existing among the nations will be resolved in due course and on the basis of international law and thus the legal heirs of the guilty will repent, ask forgiveness, and make reparations through justice. Because injustice, as well as apathy by the international bodies and powerful countries, can increase the temptation to personally restore one’s own lost and disregarded rights and to use asymmetric force against a powerful but a brute force. And this can make us all face new challenges and can shake the foundations of security and stability in the world entire. We are confident that the Turks—with whom we expect to soon establish normal relations anchored in real justice, historical truth, and international law—need your sincere assistance on their thorny road to amending their past and returning to the world’s family of nations with a clean slate. Respectfully, 1. Kirakossyan Meline 21 April 2009
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