People, who for millennia had lived in their homeland, were annihilated: Armenia's President

YEREVAN, APRIL 24, ARMENPRESS. Around 1.5 million human beings were slaughtered merely for being Armenian, as unimaginable atrocities of the human race became concealed in eternal silence. Some survived, with their life stories conveyed as historical testaments to generations to come. As reports “Armenpress”, the President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan stated this on April 24. Serzh Sargsyan, accompanied by heads of numerous senior-level delegations and heads of state, who have arrived in Armenia, visited the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex and took part in the commemorative ceremony of the Armenian Genocide Centennial. President Serzh Sargsyan delivered a speech and particularly underscored:

“We stand on Tsitsernakaberd Hill today to commemorate the victims of the Armenian Genocide. On the 24th of April, this day a hundred years ago, the extensive enactment of one of the gravest crimes of the 20th century began with mass arrests of the Armenian intellectuals in Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, and other cities of the empire. It had been preceded by the disarmament and massacre of the Armenian servicemen. What subsequently happened in 1915 and the years that followed was unprecedented in terms of volume and ramifications.

The Western part of the Armenian people, who for millennia had lived in their homeland, in the cradle of their civilization, were displaced and annihilated under a state-devised plan with direct participation of the army, police, other state institutions, and gangs comprised of criminals released from the prisons specifically for this purpose.

Human language is not capable of describing all that was experienced by a whole nation. Around 1.5 million human beings were slaughtered merely for being Armenian, as unimaginable atrocities of the human race became concealed in eternal silence. Some survived, with their life stories conveyed as historical testaments to generations to come.

Yesterday, the Armenian Apostolic Church canonized the martyrs of the Armenian Genocide. They are victims no more. They are saints, whose blood was shed, victorious over death and evil, heavenly soldiers calling for justice.”