Argentine Court Adopts Unprecedented Ruling On Armenian Genocide

BUENOS AIRES — An Argentine federal judge declared “the Turkish state committed the crime of genocide against the Armenian people between 1915 and 1923”.
Judge Norberto Oyarbide sustained a claim by Argentine-Armenian, Gregorio Hairabedian, who had filed a lawsuit against Turkey demanding to learn fate of his 50 relatives who disappeared during the Armenian Genocide.
In the claim submitted 11 years ago, Hairabedian had asked the country’s justice system to prove that the Turkish state was responsible for annihilating and torturing numerous Armenians in Svaz and Kharberd around the time of World War 1.
The ruling by Judge Norberto Oyarbide holds Turkey responsible for perpetrating and committing the Armenian Genocide. The judge also stated Turkey should help Hairabedian get information about his relatives.
Though the court’s decision does not set accountability criteria for Turkey, it serves as grounds for Armenian organizations to raise the issue in international tribunals and courts.
In 2002, Justice Oyarbide officially requested the Turkish authorities to transfer archive documents on Hayrapetyan family to the Argentine court. He also requested the English, German, US and Vatican authorities to provide documents on the 1915-1923 Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. After studies that lasted 11 years the Argentine court passed the ruling.
Secret cables by consuls and ambassadors who served in Germany at the time greatly contributed to Oyarbide’s decision.
”Al this were not just crimes against Armenians. The Turkish state was implementing a systematic program aimed at the extermination of the Armenian nation,” one of the cables read.