Address of President Serzh Sargsyan on the Commemoration Day for the victims of the Armenian Genocide

Dear Compatriots,

Today is April 24 – Commemoration Day for the victims of the Armenian Genocide. We pray to the memory of our blessed martyrs. The Eghern, carried out under the disguise of deportations, was a state program of the Ottoman Empire, and was executed with the unprecedented cruelty and meticulousness.

The April 24th of 1915 had divided the millennia-long Armenia history in two: before and after that tragic date. The wreckage of the Western Armenians, who had survived miraculously, spread all over the world and became the Spyurk.

The material, cultural, and political losses of the Armenian nation are immeasurable; however the greatest loss were the people – bearers of the ancient, rich, and unique civilization.

We, the living, must not only remember and revere them but also live, work, and struggle with a greater vigor, also in their place. Live, work, and struggle with the optimistic outlook, with the belief in good, humanity, and justice.

Over a century has passed from that gruesome day in 1915. We know what we went through in this period of time, and we know that we defeated death. The Artsakh Liberation War is the testimony and proof that we will not allow a new genocide - never again.

The rebirth of the Armenia nation is a reality, and it became a reality thanks to the sons and daughters of the people who had survived. The re-establishment of the Armenian statehood on our native land became a reality because of these sons and daughters, the revival of the Armenian culture and science became a reality because of these sons and daughters.

In these years, we have given the world an entire constellation of the geniuses of the creative mind. Because of the celebrated Armenians, the world learned what had happened to us and learned that these Armenian are the sons and daughters of the nation which once stood at the brink of extinction.

I say this all to underscore the enormous vital and creative potential of our people and my unwavering confidence in our abilities and our future. It is true that in 1915 we were in hell but if on the way back to life we found strength to accomplish all those deeds, now when we have the independent statehood, in the 21st century we are able to do much more.

Today, on April 24, on the day when we pray for the memory for the victims of the Armenian Genocide, we will walk up to Tsitsernakaberd or visit other memorials in different parts of Armenia as well as abroad. Let us remember that this yearly march is the march of the people who survived, people who didn’t forget what they had left behind and people who look forward with confidence.