Denying genocide is betrayal — Shakhlar Agakhanov

Dr. Shakhlar Agakhanov, a Lezgin community representative, spoke to Alpha News about the consequences of denying the Armenian Genocide. In his opinion, the world community has not yet realized the danger of this crime.

“110 years have passed, and today we mark the 110th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, during which 1.5 million people were killed. If a book were written for every victim, entire libraries would be filled. However, the world community has not yet realized the full depth of the tragedy. The events were not properly assessed, and this irresponsibility has led to new catastrophes. We recently witnessed the ethnic cleansing of the people of Artsakh, when people were forced to leave their ancestral lands, where they had lived for 1000, 1500, 2000 years.

Under the threat of new extermination, they were forced to flee. Moreover, this was a politically motivated genocide—not a random occurrence, but a deliberate policy to destroy certain peoples. These crimes will persist unless the world community provides an unambiguous legal assessment,” Agakhanov said.

According to him, history has already proven that attempts to appease the aggressor through concessions lead to even greater tragedies.

“Lezgins, Armenians and other Caucasian peoples must unite and firmly declare, ‘No to Genocide’—whether against Armenians or any other ethnic groups that might face this heinous crime in the future. History proves that appeasing the aggressor only leads to even worse consequences. That is why the denial of the Genocide is a betrayal on the part of those who are trying to belittle this fact. This crime has already happened, but it will not stop those who continue to develop new plans to destroy entire ethnic groups—including Armenians, Lezgins, Greeks, Assyrians and others,” Agakhanov emphasized.