Sargsyan: We fought and will fight against manifestations of Genocide

President Serzh Sargsyan issued a message on the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, the presidential press service reports. The message reads:

“Dear compatriots,

Today we bow our heads in memory of our innocent martyrs - the martyrs, most of whom do not have even their graves.
One of the indigenous and most ancient nations of the region was exterminated in their home and along the deportation routes.

As a result of the first genocide of the 20th century, one of the indigenous and most ancient nations of the region lost their spiritual and cultural values accumulated over centuries. While being national, those values such as works of art and civilization achievements were also of universal importance.

As a result of the genocide, one of the indigenous and most ancient nations in the region lost their material values accumulated over centuries. These values were appropriated by the Turkish state and its population.
As a result of the genocide, one of the indigenous and most ancient nations in the region lost the opportunity and right to live in their homeland.

Dear compatriots,

Our duty is to realize and also to draw the attention of the international community to the fact that the denial of the genocide is a direct continuation of the same crime and this crime is continuing in present-day Turkey.
Some say that we should not re-open the 100-year wounds, but we should look ahead. Our answer to such calls is the following: it was not 100 years ago that Ohran Pamuk and Hrant Dink were put on trial. It is an actual and burning problem both for Turkish and Armenian societies.

Dear compatriots,

April 24 is an occasion to restate our oath of fidelity to Armenian statehood whose existence ruled out and will rule out a repeat of the Armenian Genocide. As a nation and a state, we fought and will fight against any manifestations of genocide, which is the most atrocious crime against humanity - from sowing xenophobia to extermination, from indifferent silence to denial – in every corner of the world. We will continue fighting with confidence because our status of a nation that survived genocide commits us to do it”.