Armenian Ambassador to Czech Republic Comments On Turkish Statement

Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to the Czech Republic H.E. Mr. Ashot Hovakimian released a comment on the statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey regarding the resolution passed by the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, condemning the Armenian Genocide.

“This is neither the first nor the last official response of Turkey to the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Turkey resorts to yet another step at denying justice, thereby deepening the gap between itself and universal values. Denialism has no future regardless of the wrapping it comes in. The more efforts the Turkish authorities employ in denying the truth, the more the truth finds its way out, constituting public knowledge,” says the Ambassador.

“On the famous Charles Bridge in Prague you can find statuary sculpted by Ferdinand Maxmilián Brokoff in 1714, honoring three sanctified knights, who saved Christian captives from the hands of the Ottomans in the Middle Ages. Below the statues of the knights one can find the statue of a Turk with a yataghan blade, guarding the imprisoned and suffering Christians. This statue has become the figure of many Prague legends and stories, whereas tourists are cautioned to pass by the stature, whilst children were scared by their parents into sleeping by mentioning about the Turk coming and taking them away otherwise,” added Hovakimian.

“I regret that not much has changed during the last 300 years and until today Turkey continues to communicate in the language of threats,” he concludes.

On May 21, the Czech Senate condemned the crimes against humanity committed by Nazis during WW2 and the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire 105 years ago.

The Armenian Genocide (also known as the Armenian Holocaust) was the systematic mass murder and expulsion of 1.5 million ethnic Armenians carried out in Turkey and adjoining regions by the Ottoman government between 1914 and 1923.

The starting date is conventionally held to be 24 April 1915, the day that Ottoman authorities rounded up, arrested, and deported from Constantinople (now Istanbul) to the region of Angora (Ankara), 235 to 270 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders, the majority of whom were eventually murdered.