On September 26, AGBU President Berge Setrakian was awarded the Second Degree Medal of the Republic of Armenia by President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan. Mr. Setrakian received the award during the sixth session of the State Commission on Coordination of the Events for the Commemoration of the Genocide Centenary for “services to the homeland” and in honor of his contribution in organizing and implementing commemorative events over the last year, particularly the AGBU-sponsored Canonization of the Holy Martyrs of the Armenian Genocide and its worldwide broadcast.

Mr. Setrakian was one in a group of Armenian and diaspora-based benefactors and businessmen to be awarded the high state decoration and receive letters of acknowledgement for providing active support to the works of organizing and holding the events to mark the centenary of the Armenian Genocide. President Sargsyan distributed decorations to the awardees, congratulated them and wished them success: “I would like to thank everyone who was involved in this crucial mission. My own impression is that no Armenian in the world remained indifferent to these events, be he a benefactor or an artist, a donor and a journalists, a demonstrator or a diplomat, a volunteer or an official, a scientist or a clergyman.”

Established in 1906, AGBU (www.agbu.org) is the world’s largest non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through educational, cultural and humanitarian programs, annually touching the lives of some 500,000 Armenians around the world.