Municipality official visits the only 3 Genocide survivors in Yerevan

April 23, 2016 - 13:49 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Head of Yerevan Municipality social welfare department Ruzanna Zakaryan visited the Armenian Genocide survivors living in the capital, on the eve of the 101st commemoration of the mass killings.

Their number, unfortunately, shrinks each year, with only three survivors – Silvard Atanjyan, Andranik Matevosyan and Margarita Mkhitaryan – currently residing in Yerevan.

“The Genocide survivors constantly in the spotlight, we do our best to be of service to them in every possible way,” Zakaryan said.

The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres and deportations, involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, Italy, 45 U.S. states, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Canada, Poland, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Venezuela, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.