On April 24, Armenians commemorate the victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, the Mets Yeghern (Great Crime), paying tribute to compatriots who were massacred, deported, and starved in the Ottoman Empire, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in a message marking the 111th anniversary.
He stressed that “the Mets Yeghern must not be allowed to become a tool for international players in their struggle against one another,” adding that “the state and peace are the guarantees that the Armenian Genocide will not happen again.”
“The Mets Yeghern is the greatest tragedy experienced by our people, which we have lived through for 111 years. Every year on April 24, tens of thousands of our citizens march to the Tsitsernakaberd memorial to bow before our martyred compatriots.
Our nationwide procession on April 24 is also an expression of reflection, assessment of history, and determination to prevent the repetition of the Mets Yeghern.
The policies of the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the ruling majority in recent years are based on this reflection and determination.
With the mandate of the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, we have shown determination to more deeply understand our people’s past and its recurring patterns, in order to prevent repetition in the future and improve our present and future.
Today we have reached that understanding, including by realizing that the Mets Yeghern must not become a tool for international rivalries.
A volume of Armenian history published by our National Academy of Sciences records that the Mets Yeghern, among other factors, resulted from a practice of involving the Armenian people in international intrigues, a practice that began in the mid-19th century and reached its tragic culmination in 1915.
Dear people, dear citizens of the Republic of Armenia, our greatest aspiration has been fulfilled: we have a state and we have peace. The state and peace are the guarantees that the Armenian Genocide will not happen again. To realize this historic goal, we must stop searching for a homeland beyond the internationally recognized 29,743 square kilometers of the Republic of Armenia,” the message said.
Pashinyan noted that this territory is sufficient for the prosperity and development of the Armenian people.
“Today dozens of our settlements are empty, and dozens more—and our state as a whole—are underpopulated.
The reason has been the absence of peace and the lack of awareness that the homeland is the state, identity is the state, security is the state with its internationally recognized borders. Based on this understanding, the Armenian people must move beyond the logic of exile and migration.
With its current territory, the Republic of Armenia can be home to 5 million or even 10 million Armenians. Singapore’s territory is smaller than two-thirds of Lake Sevan, yet 5.5 million people live there because the state is built on education, self-awareness, peace and human-centered aspirations.
Today we guide the Republic of Armenia with this logic, with the ideology of Real Armenia, understanding that peace and security primarily mean normalized relations with neighbors, based on mutual recognition of territorial integrity, sovereignty, inviolability of borders and political independence.
Forces advocating the return of a ‘lost homeland’ and restoration of historical borders and justice place the Republic of Armenia on the rails of the 1878 San Stefano conference, whose inevitable final stop is the loss of statehood and homeland. Everyone in the world has their own history, their own justice, their own lost homeland. We have ultimately escaped this trap, and attempts to lead Armenia back in that direction are an invitation to the gallows for our state and people.
At the cost of sacrifices, we have found and regained our homeland, and that homeland is the Republic of Armenia.
The endurance of the Republic of Armenia is the repayment for all our martyrs’ sacrifices.
The freedom, security and prosperity of the citizens of the Republic of Armenia fulfill the dreams and aspirations of all our martyrs. We are moving along this path. The people of the Republic of Armenia are moving along this path.
Glory to the martyrs and long live the Republic of Armenia,” the message concluded.
