I am reluctant to begin on a somber note, but Armenians find themselves, once again, in a difficult situation. Even though 111 years have passed since the start of the Armenian Genocide, its reverberations continue to haunt us. For example, right behind this stage, there is a Turkish demonstration directed against us. For those who say that this all belongs to the past, clearly this is not just confined to the past but we are living through its aftereffects even now.
Here in the US, while the mayor of New York City has reversed the policy of his predecessor and openly has issued a public statement on the Armenian Genocide, the president of the United States has reverted this year to avoiding the use of the word genocide to describe the events. Despite the dozens of countries around the world which recognize what happened to the Armenians as genocide, denial by Turkish organizations and the Turkish state continues to interfere on all levels of life here and elsewhere. International law has failed in providing any true remedies for the Armenians and has failed time and time again in preventing genocides of other peoples. Never again remains just a phrase.
Meanwhile, the presence of Armenians on lands historically Armenian for millennia shrank with the war of 2020 and the final attack in 2023 by Azerbaijan which led to the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, internationally known as Nagorno Karabakh.
The Republic of Armenia itself is in a precarious situation. Part of its territory has been forcibly occupied by Azerbaijan, which periodically lays claim not only to a corridor through southern Armenia but also to the remainder of Armenia, which it calls Western Azerbaijan. In other words, the existence of the last sliver of historically Armenian territory still populated by Armenians, and the lives of those Armenians, are now in question. And we are living in a world where might makes right.
In a weakened state, it seems that the current government of Armenia is not able to raise its voice in defense of the rights of the Armenian refugees from Artsakh and their cultural legacy which is being destroyed by Azerbaijan on the lands they were obliged to leave. Furthermore, the Armenian government appears compelled to stop its efforts for international recognition of the Armenian Genocide and any sort of historical justice.
But the Armenians are an ancient people with a strong sense of history. We began recording and reflecting on our history almost immediately after developing our own alphabet in the 5th century, with a chain of medieval historians. Moreover, even today, we continue to commemorate the Battle of Avarayr, which we lost over 1500 years ago (a nod here to the Knights of Vartan).
