Aleppo-Sana
On the occasion of the 107th anniversary of the genocide committed against the Armenians by the Ottoman Empire, the Armenian community in Aleppo organized a candlelight march presented by the Syrian Youth Copper Band of the Armenian Cultural Club, the leaders of the Armenian Orthodox, Protestants and Catholics, and a crowd of people.
The procession started in front of the Armenian Orthodox Archdiocese in the Villas neighborhood and headed to the Armenian Orthodox cemeteries, where the audience participated in laying a wreath at the memorial to the martyrs of the Armenian massacres and lighting the torch on the monument. The Syrian Youth Band performed national anthems and several songs inspired by the occasion.
Archbishop Masis Zoboyan, the Armenian Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo, said in a statement to SANA reporter that the Armenian people in Aleppo came today to this holy place, the cemeteries of the Armenian martyrs to commemorate the Armenian genocide and the martyrs who were massacred 107 years ago at the hands of the Ottomans.
He added that this gathering today is proof of our resurrection and to remind the Turks once again that we will not forget their history and their crimes against humanity in Armenia or in Syria. At the hands of the Ottoman criminal who committed massacres against him, he said, “Syria has become a homeland for us, and all of us, as an Armenian people, have contributed to the reconstruction of Syria, and today the Armenian people are contributing to its reconstruction again after the unjust war that it was subjected to.”
Archbishop Boutros Marayati, Archbishop of the Armenian Catholics, said, “We are here today to remember our righteous martyrs, the victims of the massacres of the Armenian people at the hands of the criminal Turks. It was an act of genocide, and the people who forget their past have no future, and we will not forget our past.”
He added: We demand today our rights, recognition of the crime that the Armenians were subjected to, and compensation for all the losses and mass destruction inflicted on churches and schools, pointing out that the Armenian people will not forget the position of Syria, which received convoys of genocide survivors, where they found a new homeland, and we still live on this soil today. Blessed and defend every inch of it along with the army and its leadership.
Reverend Harutyun Soliman, head of the Armenian Protestant sect in Aleppo, and a number of Christian clergymen participated in the march.
Qusai Razzouk