On July 15, the participants of the 4^th stage of the “Ari Tun” Program of the RA Ministry of Diaspora visited Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex, the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, as well as Yerablur Military Pantheon and a military unit. Most of the participants were visiting Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex for the first time and were very emotional.

Amazingly, some of them were presenting the history of the Armenian people to foreigners at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute. When asked how they knew, they said the following: “What kind of Armenians would we be, if we didn’t know our history?”

The participants of the program were touring the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute attentively and with great sorrow, and many weren’t even able to hold back their tears. Cypriot-Armenian Lara Altounian, 12, said she had only seen the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex in photos and that she was very impressed with the fact that she was able to see it and feel fully Armenian. “When I saw the tombs of the heroes of Artsakh during the visit to Yerablur Military Pantheon, I realized that we are going to be the next defenders of Artsakh,” Lara stated in an interview with Hayern Aysor.

“I had really wanted to visit Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex. It is of great significance for me. When I saw the memorial complex for the first time, my eyes were filled with tears. If the Armenian Genocide didn’t take place, we wouldn’t be living in foreign cities and wouldn’t have to fight to preserve our culture. At Yerablur Military Pantheon, for the first time, I found out that young Armenians who were only a year older than me had sacrificed their lives to defend our homeland,” 17-year-old Lebanese-Armenian Lara Gyouloumian mentioned.

In an interview with Hayern Aysor, another Lebanese-Armenian participant Rita Vahradian said everything was so influential at Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex that she felt as if she was the one undergoing torture and sufferings in 1915 and her brothers and sisters were being massacred. “I live in Lebanon, but this is where my homeland is. I don’t have any other homeland. I want to live in Armenia,” Rita added.

Ani Harutyunyan

2^nd year student of the Faculty of Journalism at Yerevan State University