On April 18, the House of Representatives of Cyprus observed a minute of silence to honor the 1.5 million victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, reports CyprusMail.
The body pledges to “fight for a world where peace and justice prevail and where the atrocities of the past never happen again.”
Acting House President Zacharias Koulias, during his remarks, referred to April 24 as the “black anniversary” of the Armenian Genocide, adding that over several years, millions of Armenians were “violently displaced, subjected to hardship and massacred, in a relentless attempt at extinguishing their existence.”
Vartkes Mahdessian, the Representative of the Armenian community in Cyprus and a member of the House since 2006, addressed the Parliament following the minute of silence in memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide of 1915.
The Republic of Cyprus was the second nation in the world to formally recognize the Armenian Genocide in 1975. Every year on April 24, Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day is observed in Cyprus and around the world to commemorate the 1.5 million victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
The Armenian Apostolic Church canonized the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide, collectively declaring them to be saints, during the centennial of the Armenian Genocide in 2015.
