"Hatred towards Armenians is turning into a mindset"
"Advocating hatred is not a neutral way of using freedom of speech because it abuses freedom with the purpose of instilling hatred and violence against a specific group. Whether it is a Jew, a Tuts, an Arab or Armenian, the violence intensifies and increases the possibility of being a victim," Serzh Sargsyan announced in Belgium.
Serzh Sargsyan visited the "Villa Empen" center for cultures and dialogues between the East and West established by Poghosyan Foundation and headed by well-known benefactors Jean and Albert Poghosyan.
"Recently, Armenians have become a target for propagation of hatred. When the head of one of our neighboring countries declares that Armenians should be exiled just for being Armenian, I cannot but remember the events of 1915. When we constantly hear threats from another neighboring counry, I can't help remembering the cruel lessons of history. In Azerbaijan and the Ottoman Empire, Armenians were treated as foreign objects, as something unnecessary they had to get rid of through massacre and slaughter. However, after all this Baku is still trying to establish control over Nagorno-Karabakh and its freedom-loving people, the people it wanted to annihilate," said Serzh Sargsyan. According to him, hatred towards Armenians grows into mentality, its propagation turns into state policy.
"Hatred towards Armenians is one of the fundamental expressions of hatred of mankind today. Humanitarianism resisted the battle, but the war against xenophobia continues. Hatred failed on the battlefield, but unfortunately, not the war. How many places are there in the world where children live in peace?" said the RA President, adding that it was WWII that stopped art fan Baron Empen from achieving his ultimate goal of establishing a center for art and culture. Today, thanks to the Poghosyan family, "Villa Ampen" is returning to its mission envisaged by its founder and is becoming a center for art and dialogue between the cultures of the East and West.
The RA President noted that the real end to the war was the legal proceedings of Nurenberg where humanitarianism won over hatred.
