Denial of Genocide may lead to Armenia ceasing to exist – Alexander Cheryomin

Professor and historian Alexander Cheryomin commented to Alpha News on the attempts by Armenian authorities to deny the Armenian Genocide.

“If a politician leading the state denies the Genocide of his own people, he essentially undermines the entire history, which should instead be continuously emphasized. If they please Turkey and completely remove this most difficult moment in the history of the Armenian people—the Genocide—Turkey will say that the territory where the Armenian Republic is located today was formerly part of the Ottoman Empire. To protect your country’s interests, it is essential to affirm that the Genocide took place in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and this is the most important defense against Turkish expansion. You cannot please your sworn enemy. Turkey will not even notice any of this when it has the appetite to further expand its territory,” Cheryomin said.

According to the historian, denial of the Genocide may lead to the fact that Armenia as a state will simply not exist.

“All this will ultimately lead to Armenia ceasing to exist as a state, and Turkey will talk about the occupation of its ancestral lands, no Genocide, even this word will not be pronounced. Today, it is essential to defend Armenia, which finds itself caught between Turkey and Azerbaijan—between the hammer and the anvil. There should be world, global assistance to prevent a repetition of the Genocide that was orchestrated more than a century ago. When history is forgotten, aggressors are sure to come. And that is why we must constantly say in all media, on television, radio, newspapers that there was Genocide. We should remember what was done directly to the Armenian people and how the Turks behaved towards the whole nation, so we should constantly talk about it. Without this, Armenia will have fewer defense functions, because otherwise they will say that Armenia and Turkey once lived very well, which means that the Ottoman Empire is simply returning to its ancestral lands,” Cheryomin concluded.