‘Genocide reminds us the strength of Armenian character and resilience’ – OAS Secretary General

YEREVAN, APRIL 24, ARMENPRESS. Secretary General of the Organization of American States Luis Almagro calls for not forgetting the victims of the Armenian Genocide and keeping their memory bright.

“2020 was a difficult year for Armenians. Between the COVID-19 pandemic and the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, 2020 was a year of great sorrow. Just as that fateful year of 1915, that marked the beginning of a sad episode in world history, in which 1.5 million innocent Armenian lives were taken in their native land and in which the story of the Armenian Diaspora began”, he said in a video address to ARMENPRESS.

The OAS Secretary General said he joins in commemorating the Armenian Genocide, remembering each and every one of those lives systematically taken.

“Today I ask that we never forget them because they remind us every day of the responsibility we have to protect those whose rights and lives are threatened and are at risk of being eliminated as peoples.

My friends, the facts of the Armenian Genocide are horrific, undisputed by historians and the international community. Their days bring us deep sadness, however, it was from their days that an independent Armenia was born. Thus, the Genocide also reminds us the strength of the Armenian character and the resilience of an ancient nation rich in history and culture, a nation that more than a hundred years later, even the midst of the pandemic and the military threat of neighbors, still thrives, still grows and is still alive”, the OAS Secretary General said, adding: “As Armenian-American novelist William Saroyan once said – “no matter the challenge, no matter the threat, no matter the attempts to destroy the Armenian nation, this will be an impossible task because when two of them meet anywhere in the world, they will create a new Armenia””, Luis Almagro said.

Editing by Aneta Harutyunyan