The Armenian Genocide is one of the darkest pages in world history and has left a traumatic imprint on the collective memory of the Armenian people, but also of all the peoples who have faced the atrocities of Turkey, the President of the Cyprus Parliament Annita Demetriou said addressing the Plenary, on Thursday, on the occasion of April 24, International Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.
Demetriou said that Turkey, with the tolerance of the international community, committed genocides against other populations, and has not apologised for the policies of ethnic cleansing and expansion. She said that the genocide commenced in 1915 and one and a half million innocent people were massacred and hundreds of thousands were brutally abused, forcibly displaced or enslaved as part of an organised and premeditated plan to exterminate the Armenian nation.
Demetriou said that Cyprus was the first country in Europe to recognise the genocide and has passed a resolution. She noted that today the Cyprus House condemns the heinous event and at the same time expresses its support to the Armenian people, while appealing to the international community for universal recognition of the Armenian genocide.
Cyprus and Armenia are fighting for their rights, says Mahtesian
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Vartkes Mahtesian, the representative of the Armenian religious group in the Cyprus Parliament said that in addition to the physical extermination of the Armenians, the Turks also committed cultural genocide in order to eliminate the long-standing Armenian presence in Asia Minor, the Pontus and the West Cilicia, where between 1894 and 1923, a total of 450 monasteries, 1,950 schools and 2,430 churches were seized and destroyed while about 4,000 towns and villages were Turkishized.
He said the 800,000 surviving refugees were scattered around the world, shaping the Armenian Diaspora and building a new life by contributing to trade, sports, scouting, science, arts and culture in their host countries.
He said that Cyprus welcomed over 9,000 Armenian refugees, who arrived in Larnaca and other ports, and that 1,300 Armenians who finally remained, managed to maintain the good name that Armenians have always had on the island.
Mahtesian noted that Cyprus has always been a firm supporter of Armenians and that Armenians and Cypriots are fighting for justice. He said that the global mobilisation following the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine is impressive, but added that public opinion was indifferent to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, the violation of the status quo of Famagusta by the Turks, the war in Artsakh and the continuing violation of the borders of Armenia by the Azeris.
He finally called on the international community to stop pretending and to take on the role of guardian of international law.
Source: Anadolu Agency