On 21 April, the Ministry of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia hosted an event entitled “Descendants of Armenian Genocide Survivors Tell Stories”.

In her welcoming speech, RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan particularly stated the following: “Dear compatriots, 102 years ago, the Ottoman Empire perpetrated the Armenian Genocide. Most of our compatriots were deported or migrated, but the Armenians lived and created. Today, we Armenians are more than 10,000,000 in number. The fourth generation of Armenian Genocide survivors, that is, the numerous young Armenians demand a just solution to the Armenian Cause without any fear.”

The Minister expressed special gratitude to the foreign intellectuals who write and publish books devoted to the Armenian Genocide of 1915. “Among those writers are also Turkish writers who often discover their Armenian identity when examining their roots. Year after year, more and more incognito Armenians rediscover their identity. The stories of our extended families help us keep the memory of the innocent victims alive,” the Minister emphasized.

The descendants of Armenian Genocide survivors shared the stories of their extended families. Writer and publicist Krikor Janigian expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Diaspora for providing him with the opportunity to share his family’s story and talked about how his grandmother had taught children to write the phrase “Yes Hai Em” (I am Armenian) on the sands of the Euphrates so that they could recognize each other in case they got lost.

Writer Sosi Gevonyan noted that her grandfather was born in Kesaria, she was born in Damascus and later migrated to Beirut, Spain, the United States of America and finally moved to the Homeland with her family. “I am happy that I finally settled in Armenia-the paradise of my dreams,” she added.

Founding director of Pomegranate Music Raffi Meneshian shared the story of his grandparents and expressed gratitude to the Minister and the Ministry of Diaspora for highly appreciating his work devoted to preservation of Armenian culture and awarding him with the Boghos Noubar Medal.

Representative of the Armenian Missionary Association of America in Armenia Harutyun Nersisyan talked about his family who was deported from Marash. Lecturer Hrachuhi Poghosyan shared the story of how her family migrated from Vaspurakan and her book devoted to the story and entitled “A Story of a Family from Vaspurakan”.

Iraqi-Armenian repatriate Varant Bedrossian, historian Ani Fishenkchian and Argentine-Armenian Luiza Hazarian also shared their extended families’ memories of the Armenian Genocide and assured that April 24^th makes all us Armenians think about what we are doing to keep the memory of the 1.5 million victims alive.

Minister Hranush Hakobyan assigned the staff of Hayern Aysor electronic newspaper to open a section entitled “Tell Your Story” in which the inheritors of Armenian Genocide survivors would have the opportunity to not only share their stories, but also interact and get to know each other.

“Our revenge on the enemy will be to live and create and empower our two Armenian republics, that is, Armenia and Artsakh,” the Minister concluded.