Religious Life (Bucharest)
Weekly bulletin
Year XII, No 555, 23 May 2004

8. COMMEMORATION IN BUCHAREST OF THE GENOCIDE OF 1915 AGAINST THE ARMENIANS

On 24 April last, a remembrance service took place at the Armenian
Cemetery in Bucharest for the victims of the genocide of 1915 against
the Armenians, in Turkey. The religious service was celebrated by His
Eminence Dirayr Mardichian, Archbishop of the Orthodox Armenians in
Romania, vartabed Khoren Zakarian, Rev. Bogdan Ezras, deacons Haig
Azarian and Radu Holca, near the khacikar raised in the cemetery
in the memory of those killed 89 years ago. Wreaths of flowers were
laid on behalf of the Armenian Embassy in Bucharest, of the Armenian
Archdiocese and of the Armenians* Union in Romania. After the service,
His Eminence Dirayr Mardichian and His Excellency Eghiºe Sarksian,
Ambassador of the Armenia in Bucharest took the floor. The Armenians
present at the remembrance service lit candles and laid flowers near
the khacikar.

Next day, at Dudian library, in the courtyard of the Armenian
Cathedral in Bucharest, a meeting dedicated to the commemoration of
the genocide took place, where publicist Vartan Arachelian and writer
Mihai Rãdulescu delivered speeches. Vartan Arachelian said that the
Armenians in Romania should make the state authorities sensitive
to this issue so that, in the perspective of the anniversary next
year of nine decades since the tragic events in the Ottoman Empire,
the Parliament from Bucharest should recognize the genocide, as the
Parliaments of some other countries have already done. Writer Mihai
Rãdulescu read a lengthy material about the massacres committed
against the Armenians in 1915.

One week before, the Armenian Liturgy of Catholic rite had been
celebrated in the *Holy Trinity* church in Cluj-Napoca, in the
memory of the victims of the Genocide of 1915. Rev. Szakacs Endre,
the parish priest of the Armenian church in Gherla (county of Cluj)
celebrated the religious service.

In the same city, in March, the film Ararat by Atom Egoyan producer was
presented at the headquarters of the German Forum while on 27 April a
photo exhibition was varnished displaying images of the deportations
and massacres committed against the Armenians * informs us the Ararat
magazine, the publication of the Armenians* Union in Romania, issue 8
(293) of 16-30 April 2004.