Yes and then? Will we live another second century of revolt and emotional upset? Are we expecting to wait even a second century to think and investigate scientifically and legally the "Armenian issue"? Or, we will cross a second century stirred only by propaganda? Shall we continue to fight for the Armenian cause by reproducing for another century the same revolt activities lived up to date?
It is important that April 24, 2015 won’t be just a memory for the genocide centennial. It's not a ceremony! Nor a party!
This is a promise to Armenian martyrs, a promise that we will hold more strongly than ever, adding to this struggle, in addition to the emotional dimension lived centenary, a new more promising and safe dimension: the scientific dimension.
On the occasion of the centenary, it is not required to use all our energy to demand and revolt on the day of April 24, 2015, and then to rest and return later to silence. This mobilization and all activities that currently sweeping the world should not be limited to this level and above should not stop there.
What I fear most is that the day after the April 24, 2015, is not like before. I fear especially after all this mobilization for the genocide centennial, the Armenian people will have the feeling that we’ll stay stuck in our own thoughts and continue the traditional celebrations each year. I fear especially that the Armenian people will have the feeling of relaxation, negligence, malice and retirement.
A century devoted solely to the history of the Armenian Genocide, during which we had a collection of facts and various evidence justifying genocide; a century to justify that the genocide took place is undoubtedly enough! Now it is time to take action and continue to pray for the repose of the souls of the Armenian martyrs, every day, not just on the eve of every 24 of April... Gone are the commemoration ceremonies, advertisements and propaganda.
Recognition, we will achieve it, we will surely reach it, grasp it, and live it; it is with determination that I claim it to you. Let's emerge a peaceful revolution for recognition. It is time not to wait every 24 of April of each year to raise our voices and shout Justice for the people! If we are really aiming out the victory of recognition, then it's time to wake up, to shake the world differently, and shake international justice, the United Nations and all international organizations. We deserve to live in peace, we want to build normal relations with Turkey, but above all we ask recognition, nothing but gratitude. We are not trying hardware repairs, we ask for moral damages, only one remedy: recognition. Let's drop the lands and property. Those who deserve recognition are the martyrs; it is for them that we have to fight before thinking about our personal interests. They sacrificed their lives for us, so they grant us life! Let's break the bars of diplomacy, bars of protocols and procedures. It is the men who created them and it is they who can demolish them: Let’s say without introduction, without preface and without preamble, that we ask for recognition so that we can finally live in peace and friendship with Turkey. Yes friendship with Turkey, have the courage to say so and to find the right way to achieve this without forgetting to fight first for seeking recognition. The ties with Turkey will be woven only after recognition.
Let us free ourselves of your arrogance and remain modest. Let us free ourselves of inconsequential propaganda and be silent rational wrestlers for the Armenian cause. Why not break the close of the border with Turkey? Why not conduct a peaceful march to the border and place flowers instead of building barriers and brigades? It is only and only with love that we can achieve recognition. Yes, it is with love that we can fight all the denial policies. Look at Gandhi, Mandela and many other elites in our history.
Forget hate, forget revenge and start working seriously for recognition to make every day a living memory of April 24. Let us prepare for a dialogue with Turkey. It is with love that we can direct them to the expected Justice awaited since a century. I’m not dreaming, no! I’m letting off steam; I’m freeing myself of chained barriers planted in our thoughts. One hundred years have not been sufficient to achieve recognition. Isn’t it time therefore to change the way we perceive the Armenian issue, sure without giving up our rights? It is time to end the era of writing the history of genocide, and to engage in scientific and legal work, rational and executive.
Finally, I would like to greet the spirits of the martyrs of the Armenian genocide: it is thanks to them that personally, I could make a law thesis on the subject of genocide, and it is thanks to them that I won the prize for best scientific work of the Republic of Armenia, and it's thanks to them that the book will be translated into different languages. It is they, our dear martyrs who make all this work, and work through me and through other wrestlers for the Armenian cause. I am only a messenger. April 24, 2015 should finally touch our hearts and souls of the same magnitude as April 24, 1915; it is only at this point that we can fight for the Armenian cause as if the genocide was perpetrated just yesterday.
Rodney Dakessian
April 9, 2015
