Friday, April 24 2020 11:58

ArmInfo.Recognition of the Armenian Genocide is a matter of the global agenda. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on April 24, during his visit to the  Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex.  

The Prime Minister recalled that  as a result of the Armenian Genocide planned and implemented at the  state level in the Ottoman Empire, 1.5 million Armenians were killed  and hundred thousands became refugees, having lost the opportunity to  live in their homeland. As a result of the Genocide, the Armenian  people suffered not only huge human losses, but also lost their  homeland.

"The spiritual and religious losses of our people are irreversible,  material damage was enormous. The Armenian Genocide implemented by  the authorities of the Ottoman Empire was directed not only against  the self- determination of our people, but also became a crime  against the entire human civilization. April 24, 1915 became the most  powerful symbol of the whole process, because on this day, by order  of the Young Turk government, hundreds of representatives of the  Armenian intelligentsia, cultural and religious figures were  arrested, exiled, killed or were gone missing, "Pashinyan noted. The  Prime Minister indicated that in 1946-49 about 100 thousand  Armenians, mainly the successors of the victims of the Genocide,  returned to Armenia. The authorities of Soviet Armenia decided to  build a memorial complex in Tsitsernakaberd and proclaim April 24 as  the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Armenian Genocide. In  the same period, a movement for international recognition of the  Armenian Genocide began in the communities of the Armenian Diaspora.   This movement, which has been loyally led by the Diaspora's public  and political organizations for decades, has already yielded results.   "Today 30 countries of the world have officially recognized the  Armenian Genocide, and we are grateful to all those states,  international organizations, spiritual and secular leaders who  recognize and condemn the Genocide," Pashinyan noted.

The Prime Minister stressed that, after more than a century after the  tragedy, the consequences of the Genocide have not yet been  eliminated, and to this day Turkey has not voiced regrets and  apologies for this crime. , - he stressed. As noted, the recognition of the  Armenian Genocide is also a matter of the universal agenda, and April  24 is also an opportunity to raise the topic of genocides and other  crimes against humanity again, reaffirm the responsibility of states,  oppose the denial policy and protect humanity from repeating such  tragedies.

According to Pashinyan, April 24 can also be considered as  the day when the Armenian people can think about their past and  future, evaluate their strengths and capabilities. He noted that the  Young Turk government failed to destroy the Armenian people, and this  further strengthens the desire of the Armenians to live, to be a  stronger nation, to remember and demand. Meanwhile, the challenges  addressed to the Armenian people voiced at the beginning of the last  century also exist today, and the only way to counter this is a  strong statehood, a powerful state that can counter all security  threats. , said  Pashinyan. In order to have a strong state, it is necessary,  according to the prime minister, to have an educational system in  line with modern standards, a dynamically developing economy in  accordance with high technologies, a strong military-strategic  system, and a powerful army. To achieve this goal, the unification of  the pan-Armenian potential should take place, which will also become  the guarantor and stimulus of scientific, economic, and diplomatic  progress. "We must formulate our national strategy, which will form a  national unity around our values, goals and strategies," Pashinyan  said, adding that the corresponding strategy will be presented by him  in the near future for a pan-Armenian discussion.