YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. A memorial dedicated to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims will open in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland.

The Memory Lanterns memorial authored by Melik Ohanyan will be erected in the Trembley park in the evening of April 13.

Sargis Shahinyan – secretary general of the Armenia-Switzerland parliamentary friendship group, told ARMENPRESS that the event will be attended by Mayor of Geneva Rémy Pagani, canton minister Antonio Hodgers, Armenian community representatives, as well as remarks will be delivered by Melik Ohanyan.

Initially, it was planned to erect the monument in the park near the UN office in Geneva, but this decision changed by receiving a great Turkish countermeasure. “I regret that a creative reality became a subject of fight the political importance of which is subordinated to the artistic value. The monument is quite beautiful which is going to only enrich Geneva’s park. Of course, it would be better for the monument to be erected in the Ariana park as it would be more symbolic”, he said.

Sargis Shahinyan informed that the opening ceremony of the memorial will launch with an exhibition titled “Debris”. “The first opening of the exhibition was already held during the visit of Catholicos Aram I of the Great House of Cilicia which represents the different Swiss daily’s extracts starting from the 1894 massacre to 1915 genocide, the ratification of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923”, Shahinyan said, expressing hope that these exhibits will also be displayed at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute.

Switzerland’s National Council (lower house of the parliament) adopted a resolution on December 16, 2003 by which it recognized the Armenian Genocide.

The law on criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide operates in Switzerland since 1994.

English –translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan