BEST WAY TO IMMORTALIZE THE MEMORY OF GENOCIDE VICTIMS IS BUILDING INDEPENDENT AND POWERFUL STATEHOOD. BAKO SAHAKYAN

Tert.am
24.04.10

On 24 April President of the Artsakh Republic Bako Sahakyan delivered
an address in relation to the 1915 Genocide of Armenians.

It reads as follows:

"Dear compatriots,

"95 years ago a monstrous and unprecedented crime, the Armenian
Genocide, was committed. It was the first genocide of the 20th
century; millions of Armenians fall victim to it, thousands of Armenian
churches and monasteries, schools and colleges were plundered, a unique
civilization was destroyed. The Armenian nation was deprived from the
great part of its historical Motherland and spread all over the world.

"For our people these 95 years have been years of struggle and
creation, survival and restoration of historical justice. However,
we have not been alone in this struggle; the progressive mankind has
been standing side by side with us. We are grateful to all those who
offered a helping hand and shelter to the Armenian refugees having
escaped from slaughter.

"Many countries have recognized and condemned the Genocide. It
is important both for us and the whole mankind because in this way
future massacres could be prevented and excluded. Impunity is an evil
in itself generating new crimes. The Jewish Holocaust organized by
the Nazis, Armenian pogroms in Sumgait, Bako and a number of other
crimes are just a few testimonies of that.

"Dear friends,

"Today let’s bow before the memory of innocent victims of the
Genocide. The best way to immortalize their memory is to build
independent and powerful statehood, to further strengthen the
Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora trinity realizing nationwide programs and
goals. Every single Armenian must do everything possible to make our
Motherland powerful and invincible, flourishing and prosperous."