On the eve of the 104th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, a traditional torchlight procession started from Ejmiatsin St. Hripsime Monastery to the central square after Komitas, where a candlelight ceremony was held in memory of the Genocide victims. The annual procession was held on the initiative of Ejmiatsin Municipality and Ejmiatsin Youth Council. As in previous years, clergymen, educational and cultural institutions, representatives of the ARF youth movement, and hundreds of citizens were participating in the procession.
The participants of the torchlight procession through patriotic songs and various claims demanded to recognize and condemn the Armenian Genocide, to restore historical justice.
At the end of the candlelight ceremony, Primate of the Armavir Diocese, Archbishop Sion Adamyan, Mayor of Ejmiatsin Diana Gasparyan and several members of the Youth Council delivered speeches.
Archbishop Sion began his speech with the Lord’s Prayer. Then addressing those present, he noted: "It's time for us to be united, especially on this issue. This is a universal pain, because the Armenian Genocide opened the door to all further crimes”. The Archbishop noted that it is time to affirm our right with demanding claims and not call for pity.
Continuing his speech, Mayor of Ejmiatsin Diana Gasparyan mentioned that the Armenian nation has come out of the status of pituful and persecuted. "We must continue to live to prove that the plans of the Ottoman Empire failed, that the Armenian nation is a nation who lived and survived the genocide. Only by developing our country we can make the world recognize the Armenian Genocide. Recognition, of course, is important, but it is even more important when the people surviving genocide stand up and move forward.
The new generation is ready to move forward, to develop our country, keeping the pain in its heart”, said the Mayor.
Lilit Baghdasaryan, a member of the Youth Council, added."We are not the bearers and spreaders of hatred, we are Christians and therefore our greatest answer is love. Love for God, for the motherland, for our families, work, art, culture, traditions and love for each other, and that is the constant guarantee and strength of our existence.
What has happened has made us stronger, more alert, more prepared. Now we have statehood, we have an army. Artsakh and the four-day wars as an example, we are ready to unite against any enemy at any moment and continue to exist, because we love our motherland, because we know its value, because our life is not only ours, because the lives, the faith, the graces, the strength of the 1.5 million saints are in each of us. And we are the ones who bear that responsibility that we call justice”.

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