RA PRIME MINISTER TIGRAN SARKISIAN’S MESSAGE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS COMMEMORATION DAY

ARMENPRESS
April 24, 2008

YEREVAN, APRIL 24, ARMENPRESS: 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.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress