YEREVAN. – We lost not only 1.5 million Armenians, but also an entire homeland, civilization, culture and heritage, and that is why we come to the capital Yerevan’s Armenian Genocide Memorial and pay our respects to our victims. Opposition Heritage Party leader Raffi Hovannisian told news reporters Tuesday, when visiting the Memorial.   

“We need to carry out changes whereby we would return our country to our people. Once establishing justice at home, we will be able to demand that justice from the world, too,” Hovannisian stated, and, also, he saluted those Turks who helped the Armenians escape the Genocide. 

He also welcomed the fact that there are those among the Turkish civil society who demand that the Armenian Genocide be recognized and condemned by Turkey.   

In Raffi Hovannisian’s words, the Genocide’s acknowledgement is one of the Armenians’ crucial and defining issues for which a civilized Armenia needs to be crafted.