An event was held Saturday at the Musa Dagh (Mount) Memorial in the Armavir Province of Armenia, and on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the heroic battle of Musa Dagh, in modern-day Turkey.
The heroic battle of the Armenian people of Musa Dagh had taken place in 1915, when the population of a number of Armenian villages around Musa Dagh had refused to obey the Ottoman Empire’s decision to deport them. As a result, these Armenians defended themselves against the Ottoman regular troops for 53 days, and without any outside help. Ultimately, French ships came to the rescue of the Musa Dagh Armenians, and took them to Egypt.
During the anniversary event, President Serzh Sargsyan delivered a speech in which he touched upon the attacks in Paris.
“Today we are here to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Musa Dagh self-defense. It was one of the 1915 Armenian Genocide’s heroic episodes, to which our French brothers made an invaluable contribution. One hundred years have passed, but our sense of gratitude has not weakened even one bit.
“Unfortunately, [and] by the irony of fate, last night we witnessed terrorist attacks, unprecedented terrorist acts by their scale, perpetrated at the heart of France - Paris. All of us are deeply shocked by it.
“I strongly condemn these terrible and ghastly actions, which claimed numerous innocent lives.
“In recent years, the growth of this kind of inhuman violence in various countries of the world gives rise to serious concerns. [But] I am confident that each and every member of the civilized community will join the fight against this evil that faces us. We must not allow violence, extremism and intolerance to prevail. We are obligated to make concerted efforts to expose and eradicate all those factors which cause such horrible manifestations of extremism.
“Our prayers, hearts and souls are with the French people,” the Armenian President specifically said.
Simultaneous terrorist attacks occurred Friday evening in six different parts of the French capital city.
The attacks claimed over 150 lives and injured numerous people.
