YEREVAN, APRIL 24, ARMENPRESS. On April 24, on the 105th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan expressed gratitude to all states which recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide.

In his address on this day from the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial the Armenian PM reminded that the Armenian Genocide has been officially recognized by 30 countries around the world. “We are grateful to all those states, international organizations, religious and secular leaders who expressed solidarity with the Armenian people and recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide”, Pashinyan said.

He said due to the Genocide that had been perpetrated at a state level for many years, Western Armenia was completely emptied of Armenians. 1.5 million of our compatriots were killed, hundreds of thousands of Armenians became refugees, deprived of the right to live in their historical homeland.

“Due to the Armenian Genocide, the Armenian people not only suffered enormous human losses, but were subjected to deportation and a cultural genocide. The loss of the spiritual and religious heritage was irreparable; its material damage was enormous.

The Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire was a crime not only against our ethnic identity, but also against human civilization. And April 24, 1915, became the strongest symbol of this whole process, because on that very day hundreds of Armenian intellectuals, religious and political figures were arrested, exiled, killed or disappeared by order of the Young Turk government. For 55 years now, we have been commemorating the victims of the Armenian Genocide on April 24. For the first time, it was marked in 1965, when thousands of Armenians in Yerevan were allowed to hold a mass commemoration event. This was connected not only with the “meltdown” in the Soviet Union, but also with the fact that in 1946-49 about a hundred thousand Armenians, mostly descendants of the victims of the Armenian Genocide, repatriated to Armenia and became integral part of Soviet Armenia. The government of Soviet Armenia decided to declare April 24 a day of remembrance for Genocide victims and to build a memorial to the victims in Tsitsernakaberd. And this majestic monument became a vivid symbol of our people’s eternity”, PM Nikol Pashinyan stated.

“At the same time, a movement for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide started in the colonies of the Armenian Diaspora. The movement that spearheaded the political and social structures in the Armenian Diaspora for many decades succeeded in many countries due to the advocates’ tireless efforts”, he added.

The Armenians worldwide commemorate 105th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide on April 24.