Ambassador Manoukian participated in the consecration ceremony of Khachkar (cross-stone) in Tbilisi, commemorating the victims of the Armenian Genocide

22 April, 2014

On April 21 a liturgy commemorating the victims of the Armenian Genocide was held in St. Etchmiadzin Church in Tbilisi. After the liturgy, a consecration ceremony of a memorial dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide was held in the courtyard of the church. The consecration ceremony of the memorial was conducted by the Primate of the Georgian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan, the Vicar General of Samtskhe-Javakheti and Tsalka, Supreme Archimandrite Babken Salbiyan and the clergy of the Diocese.

After the consecration of the memorial, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of RA to Georgia Hovhannes Manoukian together with entrepreneur and sponsor of the installation Hrachya Poghosyan inaugurated the memorial.

Ambassador Manoukian delivered an extensive speech. He particularly mentioned: “The installation of the memorial dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide in Tbilisi is indeed a historical event. Almost a century has passed since the Armenian Genocide and unfortunately this crime against Armenians has not been accepted and condemned by the international community till now. This is the tragedy of Armenians and the shame of humanity because the denegation and non-recognition of the first genocide of the twentieth century later led to other genocides and crimes”.

Hovhannes Manoukian, speaking of the denying policy of Turkey, mentioned that a country that strives to enter into the family of European countries must manifest proper political level peculiar to a European country, moral strength and political will for accepting the undeniable historical facts, as it did Germany by condemning Holocaust.

“The recent terroristic acts in Syrian Kesap city and the tragic consequences of those acts served as an additional confirmation of the fact that the demand of recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide has an urgent and imperative significance”,- added the Ambassador.

Ambassador Manoukian informed that in Georgia had been established a commission in accordance with the decree of the president of RA on the establishment of a state commission for coordinating events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The commission included the clergy of the Georgian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, intellectuals and representatives of the Armenian community in Georgia. The primary mission of the commission was to deliver the fair claim of the Armenians to the Georgian authorities and society.

Director of the Institute of History of National Academy of Sciences of Armenia Ashot Melkonyan, general-lieutenant of the armed forces of RA Murad Sargsyan, Archbishop of Baptist Evangelical Church of Georgia Malkhas Songulashvili, Tbilisi Armenian poet-translators Givi Shahnazari and Anahit Bostanjyan, and the sponsor of the installation of the cross stone Hrachya Poghosyan also delivered speeches at the consecration ceremony.

The ceremony was attended by the diplomatic staff of the Embassy of RA to Georgia, the clergy of the Georgian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, head of the Catholic Administration of the Caucasus Bishop Jiuzeppe Pazotto, Bishop of Lutheran Church in Georgia Hans-Joachim Kiderlen, Tbilisi Armenian cultural and public figures, representatives of the Armenian community of Georgia.

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