Problem of reparations to Armenian Genocide victims reaches academic level

In the past, while speaking of reparations to Armenian Genocide victims, everyone thought of unleashing war against Turkey without properly assessing the reality, Ashot Melkonyan, Director of the Institute of History, Academy of Sciences of Armenia, said at an international academic conference entitled “The Armenian Genocide and reparation problem.”

“The reparation problem is a most important one. In the case of Jewish Holocaust, Jews got things right and took a course of reparation. And the process started in the early 1950s and has continued since, while Jews go on complaining the amount is too small against what happened to Jews,” Mr Melkonyan said.

After being discussed with scholars, political parties and Hay Dat, the issue of reparations has reached the academic level and relevant demands need to be properly formulated – material and territorial reparations.

“Society may strongly oppose you when you speak of something new, but they get accustomed step by step,” Mr Melkonyan said.

Even Germans, who used to persuade Armenians into giving up claims for reparation, have now supported it after the German Bundestag adopted a resolution on the Armenian Genocide.

Drawing parallels between the Jewish Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide, Mr Melkonyan noted the difference is territorial claims.

“The Armenian Genocide was committed in Western Armenia, with the indigenous population deported,” the scholar said.

The proposals for reparation put forward at the conference will be considered and will form a volume in a few days.