Uruguayans honor memory of Armenian Genocide victims

April 24, 2017 - 11:47 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - On the night of Friday, April 21, the Armenian community of Uruguay rallied for the 102nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in a large demonstration that gathered in Plaza Independencia to start marching along the main avenue, towards the esplanade of the Intendance of Montevideo. The march was convened by Young Armenians of Uruguay, a space that groups the youth organizations of the community, Agencia Prensa Armenia reports.

The march culminated with the reading of a proclamation by Mikael Demirdjian, who thanked Uruguay for its endless support, also condemning the atrocities that the Syrian people are living today and expressing solidarity with all the causes of the world that still await justice.

"Our steadfast steps are united year by year in this march to remember the 1.500.000 Armenians who were exterminated more than a century ago, but above all to protest against a State that not only systematically denies its responsibility in the first genocide of the twentieth century, but also pursues today its own people. Day after day, activists, journalists and opposers in general to the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan are persecuted, imprisoned and many have had to exile just for not having guaranteed their right to dissent," said Demirdjian.

"Ours is not only a claim for truth against Turkish negationist policies and justice for the murdered Armenians. It is also the demand for moral, territorial and patrimonial reparation as an integral stage of the process of truth, memory and justice."

On Monday, demonstrations will be held in the Argentine cities of Cordoba and Buenos Aires and on Wednesday in the city of San Pablo, Brazil.

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.