In a message commemorating the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, Armenia’s third President Serzh Sargsyan stressed that the undeniable reality of the Genocide must not be framed as an obstacle to peace.

He added that any contrary stance constitutes political immorality and betrayal of the nation.

“The voice of justice cannot be silenced. The 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide—planned and executed by the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century—were tortured and killed simply because they were Armenian. These victims can no longer speak for themselves, but we, as dignified Armenians, must raise their voice louder and louder alongside the civilized world.

No crime should go unpunished. No nation should bear the burden of denied justice. More than a century later, the genocides still occurring against humanity reveal the dangers of silence and indifference. We must neither be silent nor forget. Those who deny or question genocide are complicit in the crime.

I bow to the memory of the Genocide victims and remember with gratitude the martyrs and survivors who fought for human dignity and life.

Turkey’s state policy continues to rest on denial, distortion of historical facts, and propaganda against truth. True reconciliation and peace can only come when Turkey confronts its dark history with courage and stands for justice. Only then will a brutal chapter be closed—not through forgetting, but through justice.

The Turkish government must recognize that justice cannot be buried in ruins. The truth lives in the testimonies of survivors and their descendants, in foreign diplomats’ records, in the inscriptions on stones of ruined Armenian churches in Western Armenia, and in the bold voices of Turkish intellectuals.

What happened to over 140,000 forcibly displaced Artsakh Armenians in September 2023—through Azerbaijani actions with explicit Turkish support—is a continuation of the unpunished Genocide. Azerbaijan is now methodically erasing Armenian presence and spiritual-cultural heritage in Artsakh, just as the Ottoman Empire once did.

He recalled the sense of national unity during the 100th anniversary in 2015, when Armenia became a global platform for commemorating the victims and demanding justice.

That year was not just a remembrance—it was a declaration of a clear national agenda, sealed with the Pan-Armenian Declaration. This document must remain on Armenia’s political agenda until justice is fully restored.

Armenia’s leaders must never forget that the more than one million lives lost 110 years ago can never become a bargaining chip. Denying the Genocide or portraying it as a hindrance to peace is nothing short of moral bankruptcy and national betrayal. Self-serving leadership cannot stand above national dignity. Those who abandon national interests and compromise the state’s existence must go, because losing statehood begins by surrendering one’s rights, dignity, and memory.

Therefore, remembrance is our duty, demanding is our right, and resistance is our necessity,” Sargsyan concluded.