Thursday, 24 April 2008
RA PRIME MINISTER TIGRAN SARGSYAN'S MESSAGE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS COMMEMORATION DAY
Dear compatriots,
This day is one of those symbolical days when all the Armenians pay tribute to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims. The objective behind the crime which was planned and carried out by the authorities of the Ottoman empire was the extermination of the Armenian people: over one and a half million Armenians perished as a result of that dreadful crime, hundreds of thousands old men, women and children underwent violent deportation.
Today we grieve, and by paying homage to the memory of those innocent victims of the Great Genocide, we reinterpret in own way the most important lessons of the past: we cannot be in safety and security, if we are divided and separated, we cannot prevent major disasters from recurring if we fail to have a strong statehood: as a nation, we cannot and should not forget our history.
Dear compatriots,
We should move forward, we must rally round our national goals and aspirations to build a strong and democratic state, to do our utmost and the impossible for Armenia's safety, well-being and development - for tomorrow's day of our country.