On November 24, Syrian-Armenian artists and artists of Armenia gave a concert called “Kochem Aproghats” (I Call to the Living) and dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide. The concert was organized by the RA Ministry of Diaspora and “Aleppo” Compatriotic Charitable Non-Governmental Organization and was held at Komitas Chamber Music Hall in Yerevan.

 Among the guests were RA Deputy Minister of Diaspora Vahagn Melikyan, Chief of Staff of the RA Ministry of Diaspora Firdus Zakaryan, intellectuals and guests from Armenia and the Diaspora.

 While parts of a film about Deir ez-Zor were being shown, Syrian-Armenian singers and musicians Ani Momjian, Tsoler Karagulian, Berge Karazian, Boghos Beyazbekian, Hagop Fakjian and Shaheh Keshishian, Arsen Grigoryan(Mro) performed the songs of Komitas and other Armenian composers.

 The attendees also had a chance to listen to 102-year-old Nerses Ayvazyan in the film. Nerses was sharing the story of photos brought from the Ergir (Historic Homeland) with his grandchildren.

 In the end, Chief of Staff of the RA Ministry of Diaspora Firdus Zakaryan read Minister Hranush Hakobyan’s welcome speech which particularly read as follows: “We thank you for the fact that, in spite of several disasters, you continue to create, preserve the best traditions of Syrian-Armenian culture and continue to live and work to enrich and help develop Armenian culture. An entire nation was subject to genocide and was deprived of its homeland as a result of the massacres planned and organized by the government in the Ottoman Empire. Most of the nation became scattered across the globe. Our compatriots having reached Syria through Deir ez-Zor didn’t break down and didn’t give up, but rose like the phoenix and proved that no genocide can break the spirit of the Armenians to live.”

 Zakaryan mentioned that the Armenian people will always remember the unforgettable support that the Arabs showed to the Armenians. “History played a cruel joke and made the Syrian-Armenians migrate once again, but this time the road led them to the Mother Homeland, affirming once again the right and aspiration that we have had for centuries, that is, the right and aspiration to live and create,” Zakaryan mentioned.