The Israeli government has “fulfilled its moral duty” in recognizing the Armenian Genocide, a move that is appreciated by the Armenian community both in Israel and abroad, Bishop Koryun Baghdasaryan told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
Baghdasaryan is a senior leader and dean of the manor of Jerusalem’s Armenian Patriarchate. His comments came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government voted on Sunday in favor of Israel’s recognition of the World War I-era killings of Armenians as a genocide.
Speaking to the Post, the bishop pointed to the recognition as the completion of an Israeli onus to do so due to the Jewish people’s history of undergoing a genocide at the hands of Nazi Germany.
“It means a lot for the State of Israel, for the Jewish people,” he said, “because as a nation that went through the Holocaust, and right after the Holocaust established the State of Israel, it was really the moral duty for the State of Israel to recognize the Armenian Genocide.”
Following the government’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the proposal is set to go before the Knesset plenum for a vote. There, Baghdasaryan said he expects it will get overwhelming support.
Israel may become 32nd UN member to recognize the Armenian Genocide
Should the Knesset vote in favor of the proposal, Israel will become the 32nd UN member state to officially recognize the killings, which resulted in the deaths of some 1.5 million Armenians, as a genocide.
The UN’s Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide refers to “genocide” as acts committed with “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, as such.”
The term itself was coined by Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin as a way to describe such mass killings and was specifically influenced by the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide.
“For me personally, as a grandson of Armenian Genocide survivors, it means a lot, because we, the Armenians, will always remember. Remember and demand,” Baghdasaryan said.
“We remember that one and a half million Armenians were massacred during the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Empire, and we demand justice. We demand international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and, of course, we demand a condemnation of this horrible massacre.”
Baghdasaryan went on to add that it was particularly important that Turkey, which he called the “legal heir” of the Ottoman Empire, which perpetrated the genocide, take responsibility for it in the same way that Germany recognizes and takes responsibility for the Holocaust.
“The most important country or state that has to recognize the Armenian Genocide is Turkey,” he said.
“Turkey not only does not recognize the Armenian Genocide but denies the Armenian Genocide. We hope that all the recognition of these influential countries, at the end of the day, will have a positive impact on Turkey to face its history.”
For now, though, the bishop said that Armenians, in Armenia, Israel, or elsewhere, are pleased to hear that any country recognizes the genocide. Israel’s recognition, in particular, he predicted, will have a “unique role” in advancing toward international recognition.
The government’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide was not met with universal celebration. Azerbaijan, one of Israel’s closest partners in the Muslim world, subsequently issued a statement decrying the move, calling it “unacceptable,” a “matter of serious concern” and a “distortion of the historical facts.”
“The reaction of Azerbaijan was expected,” Baghdasaryan said, calling the country a “little brother” of Turkey and expressing his hope that it would not influence the Knesset against voting in favor of recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
Senior Armenian bishop: We hope this recognition will contribute to bettering Israel-Armenia relations
Asked if he believed that such recognition would form the basis for deepening relations between Israel and Armenia, the bishop said that good relations and cooperation were the “expectation” in “all fields.”
“We hope that this recognition will contribute positively to the betterment of these relations,” he said. “It will be for the benefit of both the Armenian nation and the Israeli nation, and also for the Armenian community in Israel and the Jewish community in Armenia.”
Regarding Israel’s responsibility in this relationship, he said that he would like to see education about the Armenian Genocide in the Israeli educational curriculum and added that he hoped the recognition would advance that goal.
Already, though, Baghdasaryan said he has seen a strong reaction in celebration of the government’s move.
“I got more than 100 messages, emails, WhatsApps,” he said. “Everyone is congratulating and, of course, saying that they feel very upset that [the recognition] was very late but that they’re very happy.”