As we approach the 100^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Armenians around the world must make more efforts for international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide. In relation to this, Turkologist Ruben Safrastyan attaches importance to the fact that there has to be a transition from international recognition to the legal field and that the issue must be solved legally.

“The motto is “I Demand and Condemn”, and we have to do just that. We have to engage international lawyers and, by creating a group, examine the issue of the Armenian Genocide in court. We have to make our demand be real from the angle of international law. We have to conduct more research in this field and engage the world’s leading experts in research. We have a lot of work to do in this regard,” Ruben Safrastyan said in an interview with “ArmenPress”, adding that international law experts attach great importance to the views of reputable experts. “if we can present the essence of the issue to reputable experts, you can be rest assured that that will favor the solution to the issue in the legal field. We have to do this, and we have to be ready to work for a long time. We’re dealing with Turkey, a country that uses many resources in the fight against this, but since truth is on our side, we have to be able to achieve success,” Safrastyan said.

Touching upon international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Safrastyan said the criminalization by the Greek Parliament of denial of the Armenian Genocide and the Bolivian parliament’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide are the results of actions taken by diplomats of Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora. Summing up the year in terms of Armenian-Turkish relations, the Turkologist said there is no change and that Turkey’s motives and principles have remained unchanged.

“Turkey’s policy has remained unchanged for decades. The policy is to set preconditions and change Armenia’s diplomacy. Armenia’s position remains unchanged, and there is no change in state policy,” Safrastyan said.

The Armenian Genocide is the first genocide of the 20^th century. Turkey denies the allegations of committal of mass killings of nearly 1.5 million Armenians during the years of WWI and is very negative towards the West’s criticism of the issue of the Armenian Genocide. The Armenian Genocide has been recognized by the parliaments of Uruguay, Lithuania, Russia, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, Argentina and Belgium, the House of Commons of the Parliament of Canada, the Seym of Poland, the Vatican, 42 States of the United States of America, the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.