The ongoing cultural genocide against the Armenian historical monuments in Turkey aims to eradicate the Armenian trace in that country, Naira Zohrabyan, member of the Armenian Delegation to PACE, leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party, said at PACE.
"If I were you, I would wonder how the Armenian churches and historical and cultural monuments were destroyed and are still being destroyed in the territory of modern-day Turkey. By UNESCO's data, the major part of the thousands of Armenian monuments has been destroyed. Right after the Armenian Genocide of 1915, Turkey started consistently committing a cultural genocide, which is still going on," she stressed.
The MP noted that Azerbaijan followed the example of barbarities of its elder brother and demolished the historical khachkars (cross-stones) of Old Jugha (Julfa).
Zohrabyan said that 11 Bundestag lawmakers of Turkish origin, who voted for the Bundestag resolution on recognition of the Armenian Genocide, are intimidated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish extremists. "It is necessary to suppress the Turkish fascism, because we know what it means to be the successors of Young Turks," she said.
For his part, Samvel Farmanyan, another member of the Armenian Delegation, pointed out that Azerbaijani delegate Rafael Huseynov, who blames Armenians "for misappropriating the historical heritage of Azerbaijan" demonstrates that today there are still governments that subject even culture and education to the domineering ideology of hatred and xenophobia.
Farmanyan also touched on the anti-Armenian statements of the Turkish community in different European countries. He recalled on April 9 one of the leaders of the Turkish community organizations in Sweden, Barbaros Leylan, addressed the demonstrators in Stockholm with the call "Death to Armenians!" This was not only a challenge against the culture of Sweden, which has big traditions in social integration of refugees and minorities, but also a dangerous attempt to open the doors to extremism, he said.