Nikol Pashinyan warns against politicizing the 1915 genocide on Christians in Ottoman Empire: “Armenia has not gained any benefits from international recognition of Armenian Genocide”

YEREVAN — In a striking statement that has reignited debate over the Sayfo Genocide against Armenians, Syriacs (Arameans-Chaldeans-Assyrians), and Greeks in 1915 by the hands of Ottoman Turks and Kurds, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said his country has reaped no tangible benefits from the growing international recognition of the tragedy. Pashinyan’s remarks came in response to comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who, in a rare admission during a YouTube interview with American podcast host Patrick Bet-David, personally acknowledged the genocide. Israel’s parliament and government have not, since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, recognized the Sayfo Genocide of 1915.

Pashinyan, in turn, struck a cautious note, warning against attempts to use the genocide for global political maneuvering. “Do we want the recognition or non-recognition of the Armenian Genocide to be a geopolitical pawn in the hands of others, which has nothing to do with the interests of our state and the interests of the people? Do we want the Armenian Genocide to be something expressed in an interview as a result of coincidence or confusion? I do not want us to put our martyrs in such a status. We must focus on the interests of our state,” Pashinyan stated. 

For decades, he implied, Armenia has seen little concrete gain from the parliaments and governments that have recognized the Sayfo Genocide. Such recognition, he argues, is often wielded as leverage in bilateral relations with Turkey, rather than serving the interests of the Armenian people or addressing their most pressing national concerns. 

Armenians, Syriacs (Arameans-Chaldeans-Assyrians), and Greeks, have long sought to cement global acknowledgment of the genocide that took the lives of millions of Armenians and hundreds of thousands of Syriac (Assyrian-Chaldean-Aramean) lives in 1915, and in later years Greek lives.  

Yet Pashinyan warned that turning the issue into a political bargaining chip risks stripping it of its historical and moral weight. Comprehensive international recognition has not yet been achieved at the official level, he said. Adding that the issue has been exploited more in politics than it has served the truth. 

Netanyahu’s words, despite their personal framing, were seen as unprecedented for an Israeli leader, given the delicate balance in relations between Tel Aviv and Ankara. In Yerevan, meanwhile, Pashinyan’s remarks sparked internal debate over the utility of ongoing international campaigns for recognition, at a time when Armenia faces immediate challenges to its national security and strained relations with its neighbors.