GENOCIDES KILL TWICE, THE SECOND TIME BY SILENCE: LEBANESE MP

14:00, 23 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

“On the centennial of the Armenian Genocide we are all Armenians,”
Member of Lebanese Parliament Hassan Nahabiye said at the Global Forum
Against the Crime of Genocide under way in Armenia’s capital Yerevan

“We remember, we demand. Moreover, it’s not enough to speak, as
parliamentarians, we must also act,” he said.

He hailed the contribution of the Armenian community to Lebanon and
said “it’s a portion of Lebanese population we are all proud of.”

“Survivors can be creators,” he said, adding that “it is an evident
proof that the genocide in the Ottoman Empire has failed, because
you have continued to live.”

He said to be proud of his parliament, which by unanimous decision
recognized the Armenian Genocide in April 2000, and reminded that
half of the Parliament Members are Muslim.

He informed that tomorrow, April 24, all schools in Lebanon will be
closed, and there will be a major march in Beirut to commemorate the
genocide of the Armenian people.

“It is sad that genocides kill twice, second time by silence,”
he said. It is our duty as members of parliament to speak loudly
irrespective of any pressure.

It’s not enough that the genocide of the Armenian people has become
a historic fact, it’s time to act and not only to demand. “We must be
active in the prevention, not only of future crimes against humanity,
but also the current ones,” the Lebanese MP said.