Armenpress
PRESIDENT KOCHARIAN’S MESSAGE TO THE NATION ON THE OCCASION OF THE 90-TH
ANNIVERSARY OF THE GENOCIDE
YEREVAN, APRIL 24, ARMENPRESS: On the occasion of the 90-th anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide President Robert Kocharian addressed today a
message to the nation, which reads as follows:
“Dear country fellows, today we pay respect to the memory of the victims
of the Armenian Genocide. Ninety years ago on this day the government of the
Ottoman Turkey ordered the start of the planned extermination of Armenians.
It was an unprecedented crime, neither in the history of our people nor
in the humanity’s history, committed at a time when even no word was coined
to define it. Millions of people were killed and millennia-long spiritual
and cultural legacy of Armenians was destroyed.
The year of 1915 became a dividing line in the fate of all parts of our
nation. It changed their lives drastically and disrupted the path of its
normal development. Its heavy consequences are felt today in the lives of
Armenians living both in the Republic of Armenia and Diaspora.
The international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian genocide
is not Armenia’s case only. It must be reviewed today in the context of
regional and international politics.
We have made our position heard many a time. We are not motivated by the
feelings of revenge and once again repeat today our willingness to build
normal relations with Turkey, but its continued denial of that crime, causes
the perplexity of not only Armenians, but also of the international
community.
The Armenian genocide was possible due to a combination of numerous
conditions and factors. None of them can be cited to justify the
perpetrators. The absence of Armenian state at that time was the key reason
of why such unspeakable events could take place.
Today we bow to the memory of our martyrs, we are filled with pain, but
also with belief that the Armenian state is the best guarantor of security
and immortality of all Armenians.”