Keghart.com Report, 1 February 2015

“Unless the upcoming Armenian Genocide centenary commemoration is directly linked to the question of reparations and restitution it will merely be just another memorial commemoration occasion,” said Souren Seraydarian, chairman of the National Congress of Western Armenians (NCWA) here at a private gathering on Jan. 31 attended by close to 50 local Armenians, representing a cross section of the community’s political, social, and cultural organizations.

Since its inception in 2011, the non-ideological, non-partisan Paris-based NGO has invited Armenians from around the globe including political parties, religious and compatriotic (Hayrenagtsagan) organizations to participate in its pan-Western Armenian initiative to draft demands from Turkey re the losses suffered by the Armenians as a result of the Genocide (1915 to 1923).  

Seraydarian, who has been touring Diaspora communities to raise awareness of the upcoming and crucial 4^th National Congress of Western Armenians, added: “Our second great concern is the absence of a political vision and long-term strategy. What do we want to achieve, in which time frame? We speak often about restitution without defining the restitution of what.”

Restitution may be private property, public property including the property of associations and churches. It could also entail restitution of territory, said Seraydarian. “The question arises 'which territory?’ The Armenians of the Ottoman Empire lived in all parts of the country, including in the Five Villayets in the east identified in the unratified Treaty of Sevres.”      

NCWA's legal advisory board examines the controversial treaty

The Kars Treaty signatories were the Soviet Union, the Armenian, Georgian Soviet Socialist republics and Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, as well as the Turkish Assembly in Angora (Ankara), prior to the founding of the Republic of Turkey. The treaty is a crucial event in modern Armenian history. It's also controversial and often misunderstood. The legal advisory board of the National Congress of Western Armenians explains the shortcomings of the treaty. --Editor.

The Treaty of Alexandropol was signed on Dec. 2, 1920 between Turkish revolutionaries  (before the declaration of the Republic of Turkey) and the Government of the Republic of Armenia.  Article 11 of the treaty declared the Sèvres Treaty “null and void”. The territory of the Republic of Armenia was reduced by more than 50%. The treaty was supposed to have been ratified within one month by the parliament of the Republic of Armenia.  It was, however, never ratified due to the occupation of the RoA by the armies of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). It was eventually replaced by the Kars Treaty as stipulated in Article I of the Kars Treaty.