President of Greece Prokopis Pavlopoulos today visited Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex where he paid tribute to the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

The President of Greece was accompanied by Minister of Environment of Armenia Erik Grigoryan and Deputy Mayor of Yerevan Hayk Sargsyan.

According to Armenpress, Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Harutyun Marutyan presented the history of the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex, and the President of Greecealso toured the Museum-Institute and left a note in the Museum-Institute’s register-book.

“The memory of the Armenian Genocide must be preserved. After all, if genocides are forgotten, those crimes will be repeated. This is a message to everyone. We see that such events are being repeated in the world, and there are people who are enemies to mankind and civilization. We Greeks survived the same horror as the Armenians did. I am more than grateful to the President of the Republic of Armenia and the government for hosting us because the Armenian-Greek relations have a long history, and we need to preserve this common memory,” the President of Greece told journalists.

Afterwards, Pavlopoulos planted a symbolic fir tree in the alley of trees at Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex.

On April 25, 1996, the Parliament of Greece took a decision to recognize the Armenian Genocide. On September 9, 2014, the Parliament of Greece passed a bill criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide.

Photos by Armenpress