APRIL 15, 1915 - APRIL 15 2007 ......92 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS SACRIFICE AND STRUGGLE

FROM GENOCIDE, EVICTION AND EXILE

TO

RESISTANCE AND REBIRTH

Today, on the eve of the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 we pause to remember the one and a half million men, woman and children whose lives were brutally extinguished merely because they were Armenians living on their ancestral lands. We remember their stubborn perseverance over decades of misrule and repression to remain on the lands of their ancestors and thus remain Armenian. And finally, we commemorate their courage and will to survive when confronted with those forces of evil, racial hatred and nationalistic xenophobia whose desire it was to wipe Armenia and the Armenian people off the face of the map. We honor their memory and the ultimate sacrifice they made.

We remember all those who resisted, in deed and word, so that out of the ashes of 1915 the Armenian nation would rise again . We salute all our dedicated freedom fighters, intellectuals, community activists, religious leaders, artists, and all Armenians from all strata, who sought to reinstill in our people the noble notions of struggle in the name of justice and truth. We salute their efforts to reforge a new, revitalized Armenian consciousness that might be better able to tackle and comprehend the new set of realities that faced the Armenian nation in a post 1915 world.

Today, hopefully, Armenians in both the homeland and globally, will take the time to reflect on what truly transpired in 1915 and its aftermath - GENOCIDE, EVICTION, EXILE. It is a history that we collectively share and it presents us with a host of challenges and unresolved issues that we must collectively tackle.

This is a responsibility that none of us should shy away from . For there is no better way to immortalize the memory of our "martyrs" and the legacy they bequeathed us but to... SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER.

IN MEMORY OF HRANT DINK

ՀՐԱՆԴ ՏԻՆԻՔԻՆ ԱՆՄԱՐ ՅԻՇԱԿԻՆ