YEREVAN, APRIL 24, ARMENPRESS. The top leadership of the Republic of Armenia paid tribute to the memory of the innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide in the Tzitzernakaberd Memorial. As reports “Armenpress”, His Holiness Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, presided over the requiem service by the unquenchable fire. Top officials bowed their heads and honored the memory of 1.5 million murdered Armenians with a minute of silence. The President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and his wife Rita Sargsyan, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan, representatives of the legislative and executive bodies, high ranking officers of the Armed Forces, political figures, intellectuals, heads of diplomatic representations accredited to Armenia, members of patriotic unions and NGOs visited Tzitzernakaberd Memorial.

The fact of the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman government has been documented, recognized, and affirmed in the form of media and eyewitness reports, laws, resolutions, and statements by many states and international organizations. The complete catalogue of all documents categorizing the 1915 wholesale massacre of the Armenian population in Ottoman Empire as a premeditated and thoroughly executed act of genocide, is extensive. Uruguay was the first country to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide in 1965. The massacres of the Armenian people were officially condemned and recognized as genocide in accordance with the international law by France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Greece, Slovakia, Cyprus, Lebanon, Uruguay, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, Canada, Vatican and Australia.