A concert dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide in The Hague

On 18 April, at the initiative of the Embassy of Armenia in the Netherlands and the Federation of Armenian Organizations in the Netherlands, a concert dedicated to the 109th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide was held in The Hague. The concert was attended by members of the Dutch Parliament Mr. Don Seder, Mr. Isa Kahraman and Mr. Derk Boswijk, Director of Europe at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mr. Erik Weststrate, public and political, cultural figures, as well as representatives of the Armenian community.

At the outset, H.E. Mr. Viktor Biyagov, Ambassador of Armenia to the Netherlands delivered remarks. Ambassador Biyagov underlined that if the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide were punished and their atrocities condemned, other atrocities of the 20th century, and later, the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh, could have been avoided. The Ambassador noted that even though genocide is committed against a certain group of people it affects not only the representatives of the group but the whole humanity and therefore universal efforts are needed to fight against genocide. In this context, the efforts of Armenia aimed at preventing and condemning the crime of genocide internationally were presented.

Members of the Dutch Parliament, Mr. Don Ceder and Mr. Isa Kahraman, representative of the "Center for Truth and Justice"NGO, Ms. G. Apkarian and human rights activist, former member of the Dutch Parliament Mr. H. van Bommel also delivered remarks.

The evening ended with the performances of the "Tsirani Tsar" choir, opera singer Ms. Milena Beglaryan from Artsakh, and the students of the Abovyan Cultural Association.