President Serzh Sargsyan takes part in groundbreaking ceremony of Armenian Genocide Museum in Buenos Aires

On July 8, on the second day of his official visit to the Argentine Republic President Serzh Sargsyan, accompanied by Chief of Staff of the Government of City of Buenos Aires Horacio Larreta and the representatives of local self-government bodies and the Armenian community of Argentina, attended the groundbreaking ceremony of an Armenian Genocide museum at the neighborhood of Palermo in Buenos Aires. After the consecration of the memorial plaque, Chief of Staff of the Government of City of Buenos Aires Horacio Larreta and Chief of the RA Presidential Administration Vigen Sargsyan opened it. On the occasion of the groundbreaking ceremony the president made a speech before the participants.

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Speech by President Serzh Sargsyan at Armenian Genocide museum groundbreaking ceremony in Buenos Aires

Dear compatriots, Honorable Chief of Staff of the Government of City of Buenos Aires, Your Eminencies, Ladies and gentlemen,

I consider it a great honor to be present here today, at the heart of Buenos Aires, and lay the first brick on the foundation of the Armenian Genocide museum together with you.

This museum is being built in order to fill up the ranks of the numerous monuments dedicated to the Armenian Genocide which extend from East to West and from North to South as a vivid testimony to the fact that no matter how much time has passed we will keep on remembering and demanding. Human memory is a sort of a historical sieve which with special gratitude keeps those names and place names, which always sow seeds of justice and push forward the noblest universal values.

One of these bright place names is Argentina who gave a helping hand to our people in hard times, saved not only hundreds of thousands of Armenians, but also restored our people’s broken belief in the fact that man was created to resemble God and that the human being can’t die in man keeping the barbarian alive.

Honorable colleagues,

Next year is the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. However, it is a well-known fact that the statutory limitation can’t be applied to the crimes against humanity. The 100th anniversary of Mets Yeghern is not an endpoint; it is just a unique destination. The centenary will sum up a historical period and will herald a new phase of fighting for the restoration of justice which will be supplemented with new methods of fighting against denialism. We are going to be more powerful, powerful together with the international community since the secret of power and the victory of justice is unity.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The history of the Armenian-Argentine ages-old friendship stores pages without which it is impossible to imagine our bilateral cooperation. Not only will this day be written in gold letters in the register of the Armenian-Argentine history, but will also leave its indelible imprint on condemning and preventing the gravest crime against humanity – the genocide.

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Ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, on May 6 of 2014 the government of the city of Buenos Aires decided to allocate a free area for construction of an Armenian Genocide museum in capital’s Palermo district. On June 10, with the participation of the RA embassy in Argentina and under the patronage of Hay center and the Armenian diocese of Argentina the official ceremony of handing the legal documents of the area allocated by the city authorities of Buenos Aires for the purpose of building an Armenian Genocide museum took place.

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Today, President Serzh Sargsyan also visited Saint Grigor Lusavorich Church. The Armenian President laid a wreath at the memorial to the victims of the Armenian Genocide located in the yard of the church and paid tribute to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims. In addition, the president placed flowers at the monument dedicated to the memory of the Artsakh freedom fighters.