Tuesday, April 22, 2014 at 10 am at the center of the Journalists’ Association of Diyarbakir, the French Armenian NGOs Yerkir Europe, ARAM Marseille and the Municipality of Diyarbakir Association, held a press conference to present the exhibition “99 Portraits of exile – 99 pictures of survivors of the Armenian Genocide.”

Present, the representative Yerkir Europe, Armen Ghazarian; Varoujan Artin, the ARAM Marseille and Muharrem Cebe, Director of Cultural Affairs of the Municipality of Diyarbakir association.

Armen Ghazarian, after recalling the various actions of the NGO Yerkir Europe, said: “The fact of organizing this exhibition on April 24, the day of commemoration of the Armenian Genocide in Diyarbakir is a double symbol because Armenians draw their roots on the land and it is one of the crime scene in 1915. ”

He added: “The message we want to wear is that beyond the memory and history, there is now an opportunity for us Armenians to revive Armenian identity where it draws its roots. Whether it is through culture, tourism or other. ”

Muharrem Cebe, Director of Cultural Affairs of the Municipality of Diyarbakir, said: “There’s 99 years, a great tragedy has been lived on these lands. The Kurds have suffered the same fate. Looting, genocide, massacres were experienced.

He added: “Among the victims there were also people from Diyarbakir. They were forced to leave their land. We are very pleased to see our compatriots back, even symbolically, to the land where their grandparents were born and lived. ”

Varoujan Artin, main host of the ARAM Association, explained the contents of the exhibition “Portraits of exile 99 – 99 pictures of survivors of the Armenian Genocide”: “This is photographic reproductions identity survivors of the Armenian Genocide accompanying between 1923 and 1926 certificates of baptism of the Armenian Patriarchate of southern France which ARAM has a large part of the archives. ”

He then said: “For the first time in its history ARAM exposes a portion of its records outside of France and especially in Turkey in Diyarbakir. It is a physical homecoming, symbolically fort, on the lands of Western Armenia. ”

Artin Varoujan concluded the press conference by saying: “I invite you to look at these faces will look familiar to you, as your face seem familiar to me today. ”