Berlin to host Remembrance Service for Armenian Genocide victims on April 24

April 21, 2010 - 15:17 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net -

The Berlin Remembrance Service for the victims of the Armenian Genocide will take place on April 24th, in the Friedrichstadtkirche (French Cathedral). Numerous representatives from politics, culture and academia will be taking part.

The commemorative speech will be given by well-known historian Prof. Dr. Volkhard Knigge (Director of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation). An address will be given by Walter Momper, president of the parliament of Berlin. Also speaking will be Vartkes Alyanak, member of the board of the Armenian Community of Berlin. The artistic program will be provided by actress Melanie Blocksdorf (recitation), the soprano Liana Aleksanyan and pianist Silva Schmedding-Farmasian.

The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres and deportations, involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, Italy, 45 U.S. states, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Canada, Poland, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Venezuela, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.