Statement by President Joe Biden on Armenian Remembrance Day
APRIL 24, 2021 • STATEMENTS AND RELEASES
Each
year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the
Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such
an atrocity from ever again occurring. Beginning on April 24, 1915, with
the arrest of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in
Constantinople by Ottoman authorities, one and a half million Armenians
were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in a campaign of
extermination. We honor the victims of the Meds Yeghern so that the
horrors of what happened are never lost to history. And we remember so
that we remain ever-vigilant against the corrosive influence of hate in
all its forms.
Of those who survived, most were forced to find
new homes and new lives around the world, including in the United
States. With strength and resilience, the Armenian people survived and
rebuilt their community. Over the decades Armenian immigrants have
enriched the United States in countless ways, but they have never
forgotten the tragic history that brought so many of their ancestors to
our shores. We honor their story. We see that pain. We affirm the
history. We do this not to cast blame but to ensure that what happened
is never repeated.
Today, as we mourn what was lost, let us also
turn our eyes to the future—toward the world that we wish to build for
our children. A world unstained by the daily evils of bigotry and
intolerance, where human rights are respected, and where all people are
able to pursue their lives in dignity and security. Let us renew our
shared resolve to prevent future atrocities from occurring anywhere in
the world. And let us pursue healing and reconciliation for all the
people of the world.
The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today.
Χρησιμοποιεί τη λέξη “Κωνσταντινούπολη” (Constantinople), αντί της διεθνώς καθιερωμένης “Ισταμπούλ” (Istanbul).
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