Armenia participates at the Ottawa International Expert Meeting on Genocide, War Crimes, and Crimes against Humanity

08 June, 2007

The Interpol 3rd International Expert Meeting on Genocide, War Crimes, and Crimes against Humanity was held in Ottawa on June 6-7, 2007.

The meeting was intended for law enforcement and judicial authorities specialized in the investigation and prosecution of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The meeting was also attended by representatives of non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, and other organizations with expertise relevant to the field.

Armenia was represented at the meeting by Mrs. Nelly Harutiunyan, Head of International Legal Affairs Division of the Office of General Prosecutor; Col. Michael Sardaryan, Head of Division of the Interpol Armenian National Central Bureau; and Mr. Arman Akopian, Chargé d’Affaires of Armenia in Canada.

Although the meeting was focused mainly on the most recent acts of genocide and war crimes, several references to the Armenian Genocide of 1915 were made during the conference. In particular, Prof. Frank Chalk, Director of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights, one of the world-renowned experts on the Armenian Genocide, mentioned the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire among the most notorious cases of genocide during the whole history of mankind.

(Click here to read Prof. Frank Chalk’s letter to Georges P. Hébert on the Armenian Genocide)

Dr. Ezat Mossallanejad of the Canadian Centre for the Victims of Torture in his presentation entitled ‘The Impact of Impunity on Survivors of War and Terror’ spoke amply of the Armenian Genocide. He said: “Between 1915 and 1922, approximately 1.5 million Armenians perished as a result of a well-planned genocide by the rulers of the Ottoman Empire. Mass deportation and the relentless slaughter of Armenian civilians resulted in one of history’s greatest disasters, a holocaust by any definition. Entire families were murdered; women and girls were violated and raped, and children were sold into slavery or sent to their deaths, perhaps even taking their own lives to escape starvation. Only decades later Hitler, in an attempt to carry forward his plan of the Jewish genocide, uttered these words: “Who after all speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”

To date Turkish authorities and heads of government have denied the Armenian request for an acknowledgement of the genocide and a public apology for the crimes committed against them. Individual Armenians still carry a collective burden as a result of the complete impunity of their perpetrators. The House of Commons in Canada adopted a private motion on April 21, 2004 stating that the “House acknowledges the Armenian genocide of 1915 and condemns this act as a crime against humanity”. The government of Turkey condemned this motion as “narrow minded”. Denial as such opened the old wounds. My Canadian Armenian clients shared their mixed feeling with me and expressed their deep sadness about the position of the government of Turkey”.

The request by the Azeri delegation for a presentation on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was rejected by the Interpol Secretariat because of its irrelevance and insubstantiality.

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