Medz Yeghern must not be allowed to become tool in hands of  international actors in their conflicts with one another - Nikol  Pashinyan

ArmInfo.  Today, April 24, the Armenian people commemorate the 111th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan released a statement on April 24  paying homage to the victims of the Armenian Genocide.  

In his address, Pashinyan linked remembrance of the 1915 Armenian  Genocide with a broader political message emphasizing statehood,  peace, and the Republic of Armenia's current internationally  recognized borders as the foundation for the country's future.  

He also warned that certain forces promoting the so-called  "historical justice" risk pushing Armenia back toward policies that  could endanger its statehood and sovereignty.  

Below is the full text of Pashinyan's statement.  

"Dear people, dear citizens of the Republic of Armenia, 

Today we commemorate the victims of the Armenian Genocide of 1915-the  Medz Yeghern-and pay tribute to our compatriots who, for being  Armenian, were subjected to massacre, deportation, and famine in the  Ottoman Empire. The Medz Yeghern is the greatest tragedy that has  befallen our people, one that we have been reliving for 111 years.  

Every year on April 24, tens of thousands of our citizens march to  the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial to bow before our martyred compatriots.  Our nationwide procession on this day is also an expression of  reflection, remembrance, historical assessment, and a determination  to prevent the recurrence of the Medz Yeghern. It is upon this  reflection and determination that the policies of the Government of  the Republic of Armenia and the ruling majority in recent years have  been based.  

By your mandate, citizens of the Republic of Armenia, we have shown  resolve to more deeply understand our people's past and its recurring  patterns, in order to prevent their repetition and to build a better  present and future.  

Today we have reached that goal, including by recognizing that the  Medz Yeghern must not be allowed to become a tool in the hands of  international actors in their conflicts with one another. The  academic volume on the History of Armenia published by our National  Academy of Sciences substantiates that the Medz Yeghern was also a  consequence of the practice of drawing the Armenian people into  international machinations-a practice that began in the mid-19th  century and reached its tragic culmination in 1915.  

Dear people, dear citizens of the Republic of Armenia, our people's  greatest aspiration has been fulfilled:  we have a state, and we have  peace. Statehood and peace are the guarantees that the Armenian  Genocide will never happen again.  

To realize this historic goal, we must cease searching for a homeland  beyond the internationally recognized 29,743 square kilometers of the  Republic of Armenia. This territory is not small for the prosperity,  development, and well-being of the Armenian people. Today, dozens of  our settlements are empty, and many more-as well as our state  overall-are underpopulated. This has been due to a lack of peace and  an absence of awareness that the homeland is the state, identity is  the state, and security is the state-with its internationally  recognized borders. Based on this understanding, the Armenian people  must move beyond the logic of emigration and wandering.  

With its current territory, the Republic of Armenia can become a home  to 5 million, even 10 million Armenians. The territory of Singapore  is smaller than two-thirds of Lake Sevan, yet 5.5 million people live  there, because the state is built on education, self-awareness,  peace, and human-centered aspirations. Today we are leading the  Republic of Armenia with this very logic-the ideology of a Real  Armenia- understanding that peace and security, first and foremost,  mean normalized relations with neighbors, based on mutual recognition  of territorial integrity, sovereignty, inviolability of borders, and  political independence.  

Those forces that call for "reclaiming lost homelands," "restoring  historical borders," and "historical justice" place the Republic of  Armenia back on the path of the 1878 San Stefano Conference, whose  inevitable final stop is the loss of statehood and homeland. This is  because everyone in the world has their own history, their own  justice, and their own lost homeland.  

We have ultimately escaped this trap, and attempts to drag Armenia  back in that direction are an invitation to the gallows for our state  and people. At the cost of victims and sacrifices, we have found and  rediscovered our homeland, and that homeland is the Republic of  Armenia. The repayment of all our martyrs' sacrifices is the eternity  of the Republic of Armenia.  

The freedom, security, and well-being of the citizens of the Republic  of Armenia are the fulfillment of the aspirations and interrupted  dreams of all our martyrs. We are moving along this path. The people  of the Republic of Armenia are moving along this path.  

Glory to the martyrs, and long live the Republic of Armenia."