ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR ADDRESSES ASSYRIANS IN SWEDEN
AINA – Assyrian International News Agency
Feb 9 2015
Posted 2015-02-09 01:59 GMT
Artak Apitonian, Armenia’s ambassador to Sweden, speaking at
an Assyrian commemoration event in Sodertalje, Sweden.Sodertalje
(AINA) — The Armenian ambassador to Sweden, Mr Artak Apitonian,
was the keynote speaker at an Assyrian commemoration event on Sunday,
February. The day marks the commemoration of Naum Faik, an Assyrian
national hero and one of the fathers of Assyrian nationalism.
“Armenians and Assyrians share a special relationship as two nations
who have been subject to atrocities throughout history and genocide at
the hands of the Ottomans in 1915,” said the ambassador, emphasizing
the cultural bonds between Assyrians and Armenians. “Several ancient
texts by Assyrians exist today only in Armenian and before Armenians
created their own alphabet they used the Assyrian alphabet for
several centuries.”
Both communities have continued to nurture their relationship in the
diaspora and especially in Sweden where the Assyrian and Armenian
national federations have cooperated to further the recognition of
the genocides perpetuated against them in Ottoman Turkey at the turn
of the last century. Leaders of the two communities have pledged
to deepen their cooperation in this centennial year commemoration
of the Turkish genocide of Assyrians, Armenians and Pontic Greeks,
a genocide Turkey which turkey continues to deny.
The Turkish genocide occurred between 1915 and 1918 and claimed the
lives of 750,000 Assyrians (75%), 1.5 million Armenians and 500,000
Greeks.
There are 100,000 Assyrians in Sweden, with 35,000 living in Sodertale,
a city 34 kilometers south of Stockholm.