Courriers envoyés à la Knesset

Israel : www de la presse - associations des droits de l'Homme -

• 1/ 15-III-2007 à 21:45, Benjamin Kasparian (Marseille)
  - Dear Madam, Dear Sir,
  
  I am writing to you following the Knesset’s decision to shelve a proposal for a parliamentary discussion on the Armenian genocide.
  
  As grandson of survivors of the Armenian genocide, I am eager to express my deep sadness following this decision.
  
  I fail to understand this decision because the State of Israel was founded by survivors of the Jewish Holocaust. When I went to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem five years ago, I was as moved as in Yerevan when I went to Tsitsernagapert, the memorial dedicated to the martyrs of the Armenian genocide. What the descendants of the Shoah victims feel, the descendants of Armenian genocide victims feel it too. I mean sadness, melancholy and injustice.
  
  While Germany officially recognized the Jewish Holocaust, Turkey still denies the Armenian genocide, maintains a negationnist policy and spreads it throughout the world. This is the reason why the descendants of Armenian genocide victims fight for the recognition of the Armenian genocide all over the world.
  
  During the Armenian genocide, more than 1.5 million of Armenian civilians were deported, tortured, raped, massacred, ripped up and beheaded by the Turkish armed forces.
  
  The Armenian genocide has been recognized so far by the United Nations, the European Parliament and many states such as Armenia, France, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Canada, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela and the Vatican City. Moreover, 40 states of the USA, the Australian state of New South Wales and the greatest historians in the world have recognized it too.
  
  It is important to remind that Yona Metzger, Chief Rabbi of Israel, acknowledged the Armenian genocide during his visit to Armenia in November 2005.
  
  I am surprised to notice that the State of Israel has not recognized the Armenian genocide yet.
  In France, Jewish and Armenian organizations actively cooperate against negationism.
  
  I can not help thinking of one of Hitler’s most terrible statements. “Who remembers the extermination of the Armenians ?” he asked, “Who will remember the Jews ?”. And the annihilation of 6 million Jews by the Nazis soon followed. If the International Community had condemned the Armenian genocide, the Jewish Holocaust could have been avoided.
  
  Dear Madam, Dear Sir,
  
  I would be very grateful if you could introduce a bill recognizing the Armenian genocide in the Knesset very soon.
  
  I look forward to hearing from you.
  
  Yours faithfully
  
  Benjamin Kasparian, France. March 15 2007
  
  
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