Sunday, 24 April 2011
Message by Republic of Armenia Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan on Armenian Genocide Victims Remembrance Day
Dear compatriots,
Today we are marking the 96th anniversary of the Genocide of Armenians. The purpose of the appalling crime which was planned and carried out by the authorities of the Ottoman Turkey during World War I was to exterminate Armenians and, as a result, to deprive the Armenian people of their historical homeland ruling out any Armenian presence whatsoever - physical, historical, spiritual and cultural -on our native land.
From the very moment of its perpetuation, the genocide of Armenians became an indelible episode of not only our, but also global history which cannot be removed from diplomatic documents and from the annals of the twentieth century, not even can it be erased from the memory of those people the ancestors of which committed the crime of genocide.
The claim of our people is clear-cut: the genocide of Armenians must be given a duly formulated legal, political and moral estimation.
I extend words of gratitude to those individuals and States standing by the people of Armenia in a shared struggle for historical justice, prevention and condemnation of genocides.
Commemorating the innocent victims of the genocide of Armenians, let us eye the future for the sake of a better tomorrow for our nation and our statehood.
