Armenian council in northeast Syria: Biden’s declaration “a blessed move”
HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – The Armenian Social Council in northeast Syria’s Hasakah welcome the historic decision of US President Joe Biden, who on Saturday officially recognized the 1915 killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as a genocide.
Arif Qesebiyan, head of the Armenian Social Council, said, “It’s very nice…we see it as a blessed thing.”
She added that she hopes that all countries will eventually take the same step and recognize not only the genocide of the Armenians, but all massacres committed by the Ottoman Empire, including massacres of the Romani, Syriac, Assyrian, and Kurdish peoples.
Nubar Melkonyan, an historian and teacher of the Armenian language, told North Press that “Joe Biden’s decision for recognition was a good thing,” and stated that “the truth cannot be hidden” regarding the massacres by the Ottoman Empire.
“This is not enough for us,” he added, explaining that the Turkish state, the Ottoman Empire’s predecessor, continues to commit massacres against other peoples including the Kurds, and that states should recognize these massacres and pressure Turkey to stop them.
He concluded that, “We were forced to forget our culture, language and history, and our goal is to restore it and reunite the Armenian diaspora.”
“We reject this as Armenian society, as Armenian people. The same way we know our pain, we know the pain of the Kurds,” he concluded.