Lithuania restores Armenian Genocide  publications on its  state  archives website 

ArmInfo.Publications dedicated to the Armenian Genocide have been restored on the website of Lithuania’s state archives, orer.eu reports.

"On May 8, information was received from Lithuanian government  circles that all publications dedicated to the Armenian Genocide had  been restored on the archive’s website," the report stated.

Earlier, delfi.lt, based on an account from a person working at the  archive, reported that the Central State Archives of Lithuania,  having received an unofficial "push" from the Ministry of Foreign  Affairs (MFA) and the Turkish Embassy, removed a publication  dedicated to the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. The head of  Lithuania’s central archive service, Inga Zaksauskien, confirmed that  an urgent meeting with representatives of the Turkish embassy had  taken place on April 28. During the meeting, the archive was  allegedly accused of politicizing the issue of the Armenian Genocide.  “Concern was expressed about why the State Archives were allowing  themselves to publish and disseminate what may be political issues,”  Zaksauskien said.

Zaksauskien stressed that both her service and the archive remain  apolitical, and drew a sharp comparison to other contested historical  issues involving Lithuania.  “I do not see that the archive has  gotten involved in politicizing any issue with its publication.  Russia also does not recognize that it deported Lithuanians to  Siberia, but we do not discuss that. Turkey also has this view on the  Armenian genocide question, but that is their view,” she said.  “My  current position is that this is absolutely not a political issue. It  is a record of historical facts confirmed by scientific research,”  Lithuania’s chief archivist stressed. She also said she had received  no official letters or phone calls regarding the matter, describing  the embassy meeting as an exercise in soft power.

 “I received absolutely no official letter or phone call. It was  simply a visit, which I would describe as an instrument of soft  power, aimed at politely explaining their position while reminding us  that we could look for common points in Turkish and Lithuanian  history — of which, frankly, we do not have many,” Zaksauskien noted.

Regarding the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry’s involvement, the head of  the central archive’s document dissemination department, Dziuginta  Abromaitien, said she had received an informal phone call from  ministry representatives.  “The Foreign Ministry expressed concern  that the publication posted on the archive’s website could damage  long-term relations between Lithuania and Turkey,” she said.

However, the Foreign Ministry denied issuing any recommendations or  instructions to state institutions on the matter, stating it “has not  provided any recommendations to the Archives Department, to the Chief  Archivist’s Service, or to any other state institution on this  issue.”

Lithuania’s Parliament, Seimas, adopted a resolution on December 15,  2005, condemning the Armenian Genocide committed in the Ottoman  Empire between 1915 and 1923. The European Parliament formally  recognized the Armenian Genocide in a resolution on April 15, 2015.  Turkey, by contrast, does not recognize that the Ottoman Empire  committed genocide against the Armenian people.