Armenian lawmakers, NGO representatives and members of national communities of Armenia visited today Tsitsernakaberd Memorial complex to honor the memory of the innocent victims of the genocide perpetrated against Pontian Greeks by Ottoman Turkey on the territory of Asia Minor in 1915-1923. As press service at Armenian parliament reports, on behalf of the legislative body of Armenia Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Eduard Sharmazanov laid a wreath to the monument of genocide victims.

Condemning the crime committed by Ottoman Turkey at the beginning of the 20th century, Eduard Sharmazanov noted: ”As long as Turkish denialism exists, there is a threat for repetition of genocides. Moreover, both Sumgait pogroms of 1988 and the Azerbaijani inhuman actions against civilian population and soldiers during the April war were the consequence of that Turkish denialism,” Sharmazanov said, stressing the need for struggle which is not against but rather for freedom and protection of human rights.

Sharmazanov also highlighted the need to combine efforts of Assyrian, Greek, and Armenian diasporas, the unity of the state to combat Turkish denialism.

To note, more than 350,000 Pontic Greeks and between 300,000-600,000 Assyrians, Syriacs and Chaldeans were exterminated by the Turkish troops and Kurdish militias during 1915-1923. Greek government selected May 19 to commemorate this dark period in history. Memorial services are taken place around the world.

The genocide of Pontian Greeks has been recognized by Armenia, Greece, Cyprus, Sweden and the Artsakh Republic.

Armenia pays tribute to the memory of Pontian Greek Genocide victims Vice-President of the Armenian National Assembly Edward Sharmazanov, other MPs, representatives of the Greek Embassy in Armenia and the Greek community visited the Tsitsernakaberd memorial today to pay tribute to the memory of victims of the Pontian Greek genocide.

On behalf of the Armenian Parliament, Edward Sharmazanov laid a wreath at the memorial to the Armenian Genocide victims.

Condemning the crime committed by Ottoman Turkey at the turn of the 20^th century, Edward Sharmazanov said “This is also a day of revival.”

“We’ll do our best to prevent reoccurrence of such crimes against humanity in the future. An evidence of this is the existence of two Greek and two Armenian states. The Armenian authorities will do everything to reach international condemnation of genocides against Christian nations, and we have to combine efforts, because the denial of genocide is as dangerous as its perpetration,” Sharmazanov stated.

In 1994 the Hellenic Parliament recognized and condemned the genocide of more than 600 thousand Pontian Greeks. Many of those who fled the genocide found refuge in Armenia and integrated into the social-economic and political life of the country.

The genocide of Pontian Greeks has been recognized by Armenia, Greece, Cyprus, Sweden and Artsakh Republic.

The Armenian National Assembly observed a minute of silence today in memory of victims of the genocide.