On April 24, the authorities of Montevideo and the local Armenian community sponsored a big event dedicated to the 103^rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide at Armenia Square in Montevideo. Among the attendees were President of the Senate of Uruguay and Vice-President of Uruguay Lucia Topolanski; President of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Uruguay Jorge Gandini; Minister of Sport and Tourism Liliam Kechichian; Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Uruguay, Archbishop Hagop Glnjian; Archbishop of Montevideo Daniel Sturla; Rector of the National University Roberto Markarian; MPs; ambassadors of foreign countries; leaders of the Armenian Catholic and Evangelical Churches; leaders of religious communities; leaders of the Greek, Jewish, Lebanese and Syrian communities and others.

The ceremony began with the reading of the message of President of Uruguay Tabare Vasquez in which the President reaffirmed Uruguay’s persistence to promote, by its own example, recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide by other countries. In his speech at the ceremony, Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to Uruguay Estera Mkrtumyan touched upon the inadmissibility of Turkey’s policy of denial and stated that Turkey has been trying to justify the crime that it committed against humanity for a century, but it is in vain, and the only source for justice is historical truth.

Afterwards, under the sponsorship of the President of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Uruguay and the Armenian National Committee of Uruguay, the Legislative Palace hosted an event featuring speeches by President of the House of Representatives Jorge Gandini; Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, Ambassador Ariel Bergamino; RA Ambassador Estera Mkrtumyan; Director of the National Institute for Human Rights and Protection of Nations Juan Faropa and member of the Armenian National Committee of Uruguay Eliana Panosyan.

In his speech, Jorge Gandini touched upon Uruguay’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide and stressed that Uruguay was exclusively guided by the principles of respect for human rights, solidarity and justice, not political interests.

In the morning of that same day, RA Ambassador Estera Mkrtumyan delivered a lecture entitled “The Immigration of Armenians to Uruguay and Latin America and the Current Situation of the Armenian Community” at Rotari Club in Montevideo.