The Motto “I Remember and Demand” and the Challenges of Transmitting the Memory of the Armenian Genocide in the 21st Century

Abstract

The Pan-Armenian Declaration, adopted on January 29, 2015 at the meeting of the State Commission on Coordination of the events for the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, notes that it “considers the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide an important milestone on the ongoing struggle for historical justice under the motto “I remember and I demand.”” Thus, it was proposed to consider this motto as a short formulation of the policy of memory of Armenians. This raises questions related to the components of this motto and requiring clarification in the context of conveying the memory of the Genocide in the 21st century: Who do I remember? What do I remember? How do I remember? What do I demand? From whom do I demand? How do I demand? The article proposes and justifies the answers to these questions. In particular, on the first issue, it is proposed to compile an electronic database of victims and survivors of the Genocide, their memories, video and audio recordings. The necessity of reformulating the name of the day of commemoration of the victims of the Genocide is substantiated. Answering the question “what do I remember?,” it is proposed to remember also the self-defense battles during the Genocide; the humanitarian assistance of Armenian and foreign benefactors; humanitarian resistance to the perpetrators of the genocide; mutual assistance of family members, relatives, friends; moral victories; the struggle to stay alive. In answer to the question “how do I remember?” talks about the problems of mourning and worthy memory; commemorative processions; the construction of monuments (khachkars); the introduction of the “Park of Memory” culture; forms of using the memory of the Genocide as a means of strengthening the Armenian Diaspora communities; the need to organize exhibitions; highlighting specific people and organizations from the collective image of the victims of the Genocide processions with their portraits; creation of methods of teaching genocide and other problems. In connection with the question “what do I demand?” talks about various manifestations of Armenian demands (land, financial, moral), the question of the need to form a state approach to the problem is raised. Touching upon the question “from whom do I demand?,” the views prevailing in the society (from the world, from Turkey, from the Armenians, etc.) are considered. When discussing the question “how do I demand?” we are talking about the creation of such structures, similar to which were formed in due time to solve analogous problems and successfully passed the exam for decades, and have an experience, knowledge of which will also be useful for Armenians (for example, the “Conference on Jewish material claims against Germany”).