ARMENIAN GENOCIDE EXHIBITION OPENS IN MOSCOW
YEREVAN, April 20. / ARKA /. An exhibition devoted to the Armenian
Genocide in the Ottoman Empire has opened in the Central Museum of the
Great Patriotic War on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow. The exhibition is one
of a long string of events in the Russian capital city commemorating
the 100th anniversary of the genocide marked by Armenians around the
world on April 24.
The head of the Russian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church,
Archbishop Ezras Nersisyan, told Tass news agency that the exposition
not only shows the tragedy of the Armenians but serves also as a
reminder of friendship of Armenian and Russian peoples and ‘the power
of faith and strength, allowing death to win.’
The exhibition has on display photographs of 1915-1923, testimonies of
Russian soldiers, officers, journalists, who witnessed the genocide
and those who participated in the rescue of people. The exhibition
is open until April 24.
In the coming days, Moscow will host about a dozen of commemorative
events – the opening of the first Armenian museum, memorial services
and concerts at the Moscow Conservatory. Commemorative events are
being held in another 600 Russian cities.
“The death of innocent people is not only the pain of our fellow
Armenians, it is the pain all of us, the entire Russian people, the
entire mankind”, Yevgeny Yeremin, a senior official from the Russian
presidential administration, said at the opening ceremony.
“Russian Armenians have become an integral part of our multiethnic
people,. We stood shoulder to shoulder defending our freedom in World
War II,” he said.
An estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed at the hands of Ottoman
Turks from 1915 to 1923.-0-