LITHUANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER VISITS TSITSERNAKABERD
armradio.am
13.11.2007 13:58
The delegation headed by Minister of National Defense of Lithuania
Juozas Olekas visited Tsitsernakaberd. Mr. Olekas laid a wreath of
flowers at the memorial to the Armenian Genocide victims and visited
the Genocide Museum Institute.
"I’m deeply impressed: what the Armenian people went through is one of
the greatest tragedies in world history. The stories we heard in the
museum remind us of the 1940s of our people’s history, when Lithuania
was under Soviet occupation, when our predecessors were being exiled
and killed," Lithuanian Defense Minister told journalists.
In his words, the historic memories must be preserved for the future
generations to be able to live in peace and to create without taking
into consideration which nation they belong to. "We cannot forget,
but we must learn to live with this historic pain and look into
future. I’m greatly impressed with all this, since my ancestors were
also exiled from Lithuania. I was born in Siberia, and only after 10
years in exile my family returned to Motherland. I’m very glad that
today independent Armenia and independent Lithuania can be members
of the international community and can create and look into future,"
Mr. Olekas noted.