PRELATE CALLS FOR END TO IMPUNITY AT TIMES SQUARE GENOCIDE COMMEMORATION

On Sunday, April 26, His Eminence Archbishop Anoushavan, Prelate, gave the invocation at the Times Square commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, sponsored by the Knights and Daughters of Vartan with the participation of all Armenian organizations. Below is the text of the invocation: 

We thank you, Almighty Lord, for making us worthy to commemorate the 111th  anniversary of the Armenian Genocide at Times Square, this crossroads of the world, to invoke and to render respectful tribute to our one and a half million martyrs who became the victims of massacres and deportations from their five-thousand-year-old homeland.   

The goal of our remembrance of the genocide is neither to encourage vengeance nor to perpetuate animosity, but to make both ourselves and the world aware that there has been no end to such atrocities. The fact is that the genocide of 1915 and following years committed by Turkey continues today through the actions of its brother in impunity, Azerbaijan.   

A string of genocidal acts has been committed against Armenians in the space of thirty-five years, starting with the pogroms of Sumgait and Kirovabad in 1988, Baku in 1990, and Maragha in 1992 that led to the uprooting of 300,000 Armenians from Azerbaijan and, most recently, the nine-month-long inhumane blockade and forced deportation of 120,000 Armenians from Artsakh in 2023. The acts have not only been against people: the cultural genocide in Nakhichevan that peaked in 2005 with the erasure of thousands of khachkars from the Julfa cemetery has most recently being matched by the destruction of the churches of Surp Hagop and Surp Asdvadzadzin in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabagh).  

The commemoration of the Armenian Genocide is not self-serving, but it is a contribution to addressing today’s blatant injustices and helping prevent future genocides. Our cause is no different from the causes of all minorities worldwide who are suffering the scars of injustice, discrimination, and dictatorship in the face of global indifference.  

The heirs to the perpetrators and their partners in criminal silence should be aware that denial, distortion, and oppression will not prevent us from walking from one end of the world to the other to proclaim our right, because our endurance does not recognize limits.  

We should expect the Turkish young generation of 2026 to become aware of the facts of criminal history that characterized the so-called Young Turks in 1915. In time, that awareness would pave the way for Turkish authorities to assume the responsibility of their forefathers and to take the road toward justice and fair peace. 

With this understanding and spirit, we thank you, Almighty Lord, for giving us the strength to defy misery and death and come to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.   

We are thankful for all statesmen and stateswomen, past and present, who have not spared their commitment to ensuring the triumph of justice. 

May God grant peace to the world, so we may live in mutual understanding, harmony, and prosperity.