YEREVAN. – Lesser number of people is visiting the Armenian Genocide Memorial as compared to previous years, and this is a consequence of emigration. Capital city Yerevan former Mayor Vahagn Khachatryan, who heads the opposition Armenian National Congress Party list for the forthcoming Yerevan Council election, told this to news reporters on Wednesday while visiting Yerevan’s Armenian Genocide monument, on the 98th anniversary of the genocide.    

“This is the answer to what the authorities are doing to the citizens of our country. We must do everything for the [international] recognition of the Genocide. It should have not been like this [in Armenia]. This bespeaks the [fact] that the country is becoming empty and the citizens of our country are not here at present.

“We will do everything so that the [whole] world would accept the Genocide; this is an undeniable fact because the Genocide is inside ourselves. Those emotions are inside ourselves wherever we are. But when there is no citizen living in Armenia, this is the danger. The more our voice lessens, it sounds that much weaker.

“The weakness of the [Armenian] authorities exists in the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, since they are not elected by the people and are unable to take confident steps,” Khachatryan said in particular.               

Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am