Assyrian genocide monument unveiled in Athens

PanARMENIAN.Net - An Assyrian genocide monument was unveiled in Athens, Greece, where 8,000 Assyrians live. The monument is a memorial for the Assyrian victims of the Turkish genocide of Christians in World War One, which claimed 750,000 Assyrians (75%), 1.5 million Armenians and 500,000 Pontic Greeks, AINA reported.

Four hundred people, including members of the Assyrians, Greek and Armenian communities, as well as representative from the Armenian embassy attended the ceremony. The current and former mayor of Athens formally dedicated the monument.

The president of the Assyrian Union of Greece, Kyriakos Betsaras, opened the ceremony. The Director of the Assyrian Genocide Research Center, Sabri Atman, and the former Mayor of Egaleo were the keynote speakers.

Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks cooperate on the issue of the Turkish genocide. In 2010 a conference was held in the Greek Parliament and was titled “Three genocides, One Strategy.”

The discussion to erect the monument began over three years ago with the previous mayor of Egaleo. It was a little over a year ago when the municipal council accepted the Assyrian Union of Greece's request for a monument to commemorate the victims of the Assyrian Genocide.

The Assyrian Genocide monument in Athens is the 9th genocide monument to be erected in the world. Monuments have been erected in: Jonkoping, Sweden; Liege, Belgium; Arnouville, France; Yerevan, Armenia; Fairfield, Australia; Wales, United Kingdom; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois.