Ambassador of Armenia in Argentina, Vahagn Melikian and Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Argentina and Chile, Archbishop Kissag Mouradian, also attended the event.
Alberto Sileoni talked about that the concept of “tolerate”, saying that it was not entirely adequate. “We should celebrate differences, not tolerate them, not endure them”. Speaking about the Armenian Genocide, he said that it was a crime that was not heard, and stressed that Argentina, with Nestor Kirchner, took a strong position on this issue passing the National Law 26.199. “There is no justice without memory”.
Federico Lorenz talked about some “common sense mechanisms”, remembering what the Ottoman Empire Minister of War told a U.S. official while he was carrying out the Armenian Genocide: “I am convinced that we have the complete justification to do this, due to the hostile attitude of the Armenians”. Thus, according to Lorenz, “they make the victim responsible for the crime they suffer themselves”.
Sergio Torres, one of the judges who work in “Megacausa ESMA” compared the Armenian Genocide with the civic-military dictatorship in Argentina, and stressed that Argentina didn’t create special courts or designate special judges to address its genocide. Instead, Argentina used the same mechanisms to prosecute crimes against humanity and common crimes, in order to give more transparency to the process.
Finally, Pedro Mouratian addressed the topic of genocide from the point of view of the "theory of the two demons" that seeks to demonize those who were ultimately the victims. He said that many of the women who suffered humiliation and pain during genocide, never spoke about that afterwards. “These women kept part of history”, said Mouratian, and stressed that “we must listen to that silence”.
