Declaration adopted by the participants of the 5th Armenia-Diaspora Conference

The 5th Armenia-Diaspora Conference, which was held ahead of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, reaffirmed that the future enlargement and development of the Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora partnership will help specify and implement the priorities of the nation, will contribute to the security of the Armenian people, as well as to the consolidation of all Armenians around the nation’s interests and goals.

All Armenians must gear their efforts towards

  • further reinforcement, advancement and security of the Republic of Armenia;
  • the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that is fair and hinged on international law;
  • further organization of the Diaspora;
  • preservation of the national identity and consolidation of the potential of all Armenians;
  • international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide and elimination of the consequences;
  • consolidation of all Armenians around the Armenian Church;
  • support and assistance to Armenians in states of emergency.

We, the participants of the Conference,

Taking into consideration the geopolitical developments and the challenges facing the region,

declare

1. the following priorities of the nation as the ideological basis for the Armenia-Diaspora partnership:

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1.5. Centennial of the Armenian Genocide

We record that activities are being carried out in the Republic of Armenia, Artsakh and the Diaspora ahead of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide through the creation of a large-scale movement with the motto“I Remember and Demand…”

The creation of the State Commission in charge of Coordinating Events Dedicated to the 100thAnniversary of the Armenian Genocide led by the President of the Republic of Armenia and more than 50 regional committees brought a new sweep to the recognition and condemnation and elimination of the consequences of the Armenian Genocide planned and perpetrated at the state level in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia.

We express our gratitude to all the countries, public and political figures, benefactors and missionaries who provided the Armenians with homes and ensured peaceful conditions for them after the Genocide and who had the political courage to tell the truth about the Armenian Genocide.

We are especially grateful to the countries and international organizations that have recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide as a horrible crime against humanity and demand that Turkey lift that heavy burden, come to grips with its past and recognize the Armenian Genocide.

The Armenian people, accepting as a basis the norms of international law in relation to human rights and the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopted in 1948, will fight for the restoration of the individual rights of every Armenian, as well as the rights of the communities and the entire nation.

Taking into consideration the fact that the Armenian Genocide is an international crime against humanity, the recognition and condemnation of which has no expiration and the fight against which is for not only the restoration of historical justice and acknowledgement of the rights of an entire nation deprived of its homeland, but also to make sure that

genocide is never repeated in any part of the world an no nation is subject to genocide;
Turkey recognizes it and eliminates the consequences of genocide by taking full responsibility for the crime;
every Armenian, incognito or forcefully converted, is able to declare himself or herself Armenian and put an end to the psychological suffering.

From now on, recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide and elimination of the consequences thereof will be on the agenda for our political struggle, and we will reach the final solution to the Armenian Cause through the combined efforts of all sectors of Armenians, by remembering and demanding.

[…]

PARTICIPANTS OF THE 5TH ARMENIA-DIASPORA CONFERENCE

Yerevan, 20 September 2014

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