JOINT CYPRUS-ARMENIA STAMP COMMEMORATING GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL TO BE LAUNCHED NEXT WEEK

17:56, 31 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

A joint Cyprus-Armenia stamp commemorating 100 years since the Armenian
genocide is to be launched next week as part of a series of events
to mark the anniversary, the postal services said on Tuesday,Cyprus
Mail reports.

The representative of the Armenian Community in the House of
Representatives, Vartkes Mahdessian has organised an event for next
week presenting the stamp in both countries simultaneously.

It will depict the well-known but closed, Armenian educational
institute, the Melkonian in Nicosia. The school originally functioned
as an orphanage for children who survived the genocide and managed
to make it to Cyprus.

The event in Cyprus will also be attended by Armenian Assembly Speaker
Galust Sahakyan who is due to visit Cyprus.

The Armenian genocide is marked every year on April 24. The stamp is
one of a series of actions being taken in Cyprus for the centenary.

Mahdessian told the Cyprus News Agency on Tuesday the goal was
remembrance for the 1.5 million Armenians who died at the hands of
Turkey during the 1915 genocide, and to push for recognition of the
genocide by Turkey.

“At the same time it is an appeal to humanity to prevent similar
tragedies in the future,” he said. Armenians everywhere, he added,
were united and would struggle “until the final vindication”.

The flower ‘forget me not has been chosen as the symbol for the
centenary with the five dark purple petals symbolising the five
continents, where Armenians settled after the genocide, forming the
Armenian diaspora.

The violet color symbolises the Armenian Church and the future. The
five smaller petals symbolise hope and the present. The yellow core
with twelve small parts are a linear representation of the twelve
characteristics pillars of the monument to the Armenian genocide in
Yerevan, Armenia, symbolising the victims, but also the sunlight and
the continuity of life. The black core of the flower symbolises the
horrors of genocide.

Events will include an art exhibitions, theatre, lectures,
documentaries and cultural performances.

A book will also be printed in Greek and English that will include
articles on the genocide that appeared in local newspapers between
1914 and 1923.

In addition, we issued book in Greek and English that includes articles
on the Armenian Genocide, which appeared in the Greek Cypriot press
between 1914 and 1923.