Armenia’s Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan spoke of six groups of events that marked the Armenian Genocide centennial.
The first group is political events, approved resolutions, commemorations. The second group is propaganda work.
The mass media provided extensive coverage of the events, especially after a media forum.
“The third group included academic issues and research. All prestigious universities and certain parliaments organized academic conferences. Even Turkish universities did it,” Ms Hakobyan said.
She highlights Islamized Armenians’ problems.
“Experts say that the number of disguised, or Islamized, Armenians reaches 2.5-3 million,” Ms Hakobyan said.
The events marking the Armenian Genocide centennial are highly important if that the disguised Armenians are now openly identifying themselves.
“In a word, Turkey is facing an identity crisis now because an Armenian says he is an Armenian, a Jew says he is a Jew, a Greek says he is a Greek. That is, people are returning to their roots,” Ms Hakobyan said.
According to her, Islamized Armenians are showing a tendency to adopt Christianity.
“The fourth group has to do with publishing activities,” the minister said, adding that different books and editions covering the Genocide issue have been published in different languages.
Speaking of fifth group, the minister highlighted the importance of different community programs, cultural initiatives and acknowledgement events.
The sixth group, she said, addresses legal issues. The minister said that the Holy Mass in Vatican (in which Pope Francis acknowledged the massacres of Armenians as the 20th century’s first crime of genocide and honored the 10th century Armenian monk and poet Gregory of Narek as a doctor of the church) and the canonization of the Armenian Genocide victims marked the culmination of the different religious events commemorating the tragedy.
Indeed, this was one of the most organized, well thought out and executed event(s). The Armenian energy around the world was palpable. The social media also worked to our advantage. We knew how to use it and used it well. We proved to ourselves the power of acting as ‘one’. From Argentina to Los Angeles, Ottawa, Beirut, and yes Somalia, we were one in Armenia. We surprised ourselves. We demostrated our historical, religious serenity against a national calamity. Much work remains ahead.