Event for the 10th Anniversary of the Law that Recognizes the Armenian Genocide in Argentina

The tenth anniversary of the enactment of Argentine Law 26.199, the official recognition of the Armenian Genocide in Argentina, was celebrated on the morning of Wednesday 19 with an open talk in the Memory and Human Rights Space (former Higher School of Mechanics of the Navy - ESMA) with the participation of Jorge Taiana, Vice-President of Parlasur, Pedro Mouratian, consultant expert of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Nicolas Sabuncuyan, director of the Armenian National Committee of Argentina, and President of Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, Estela de Carlotto, along with human rights organizations of the country.

The Higher School of Mechanics of the Navy was the largest detention center during the last military dictatorship of Argentina, where thousands suffered forced disappearances, torture and illegal executions. In 2004 it was converted to a museum and a space of memory and today is the most important symbolic place in defense of human rights of the country.

"It was only in 1985 that the Armenian Genocide committed by the Turks at the United Nations was spoken for the first time, for political reasons, because of Turkey's negation and its political weight," said Jorge Taiana. "This law does justice to a horrific fact that happened, it is part of an international policy of recognizing massive and systematic violations of human rights. Secondly, it is a recognition of a major community such as the diaspora of the Armenian people that came to Argentina that feel the need for reparation and identification. The third element has to do with the Argentine society, with this idea that it was in 'self-defense', a law in defense of all the people who feel that being different, in this case by nationality, are subject to danger," added Taiana, who was awarded with the Medal of Mkhitar Gosh from President Serzh Sargsyan in 2015.

"The whole Turkish policy supports this kind of siege between Azerbaijan and Turkey to the possibility of Armenian development. The normalization of relations between Armenia and its neighbors would enhance the development and well-being of the Armenians and also in Nagorno Karabakh, which is a national situation that we who also have a subject of territorial occupation also feel strong", said Taiana, referring to the problematic of Islas Malvinas between Argentina and Great Britain.

"The human rights organizations have not been indifferent to fraternal peoples and we are still in contact with other populations that are suffering persecution and death. The Armenian people who live in our country are our great friends: people of peace, culture and history. Argentina's recognition of this genocide was a very important step forward," said Estela de Carlotto.

"The law, unlike the resolutions, would allow us as a community to lay the foundations for public policies that have to be implemented from the state so that events like this do not happen again," said Pedro Mouratian. "What we have to think about is what our active role can be so that this does not happen again not only by remembering it in an act or a rally, but also in everyday life. When there is an alliance of the powerful to commit a genocide, everyone is aware of what they are doing. Those of us who are generally on the side of the victims and the vulnerable can not wait for this to happen to unite us, we must have an active work on these issues," added Nicolas Sabuncuyan.

With the presence of an auditorium full of students from schools of the Armenian community of Buenos Aires, the National Secretary of Human Rights and Cultural Pluralism, Claudio Avruj, sent a message of support to the activity. On the end, the Armenian National Committee closed the ceremony by giving a recognition to all the human rights organizations that accompanied the process of gestation and sanction of Law 26.199 that recognized the Armenian Genocide.