STEPANAKERT. – Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) President Arayik Harutyunyan has issued a message on the occasion of the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. This was reported by the President's Office. The message reads as follows:

Dear compatriots,

Today we again remember and bow our heads before the memory of the innocent victims of the 1915 Genocide committed by the Ottoman Turkey against the Armenian people.

106 years have passed since that cruel and horrible crime. Times, generations, authorities have changed, but one thing has remained unchanged: it is the continuation of the genocidal policy, grossly violating and trampling all the norms and principles of international law, fundamental human rights, and legitimate interests.

106 years later, we again have a forcibly displaced people, a whole generation of martyrs and disabled people, compatriots in [Azerbaijani] captivity, a lost homeland.

Today the security of the people of Artsakh is ensured by the peacekeeping troops of the Russian Federation. We thank them, we thank all the countries and peoples, statesmen and politicians, organizations and ordinary people who at the crucial moment reached out for help to our compatriots who survived the clutches of death in 1915, who stood with the Armenian people all these years and supported our struggle for the protection of universal values and the restoration of historical justice.

Recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide is a telling testament to commitment to these values, as well as a means of preventing further crimes against humanity.

The Armenian people continue their struggle, building their Homeland, and always keeping alive the memory of the holy martyrs for the prevention of genocides and the survival of the Armenian people.