Archbishop Ezras urges to preserve national memory and  continue  struggle for international recognition of Armenian Genocide

ArmInfo. Archbishop Ezras Nersisyan, head of the Russian and New Nakhichevan Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church and Patriarchal Exarch in Russia, in his address on the occasion of the 111th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, has called for the preservation of  national memory and the continuation of the struggle for international recognition of the Genocide.

 "On April 24, all Armenians around the world remember with deep  reverence and prayer our holy ancestors—the martyrs of the Armenian  Genocide of 1915, who received the crown of martyrdom in the name of  faith and in the name of the Motherland. More than 1.5 million  Armenians were murdered in their own cradle, on the threshold of  their own homes; they became refugees and orphans, deprived of  shelter and homeland. We cannot renounce. We cannot betray. We cannot  forget the innocently shed blood of our holy martyrs, their blessed  memory, and their demand for justice.  Therefore, we reject all those  who deny or question this crime against humanity, all those who  falsify and consign to oblivion this greatest and most monstrous  crime of the beginning of the century.  We reject it because genocide  is an atrocity against God, and there is no justification for it.  We  reject it in order to prevent new genocides, which we have witnessed  in Sumgait and occupied Artsakh.  As a claimant nation, as a  testament to national dignity, as a sacred vow and pledge of loyalty,  we must continue to make every effort to achieve recognition of the  Armenian Genocide," Yezras said in his statement, according to media  reports.

It was also reported that Armenian Ambassador to Russia Gurgen  Arsenyan ignored the service in memory of the Armenians who lost  their lives during the Armenian Genocide at the Armenian Cathedral in  Moscow, where a message from the Russian president was read, among  other things. Arsenyan reportedly arrived at the church early in the  morning, laid flowers at the khachkar, and left.