All participants of One Nation, One Culture festival kneel
in honor of Armenian Genocide victims' memory
26-07-2010 21:00:00 | Armenia | Politics
YEREVAN, JULY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. The participants of the Days
of Performing Art held within the framework of 4th Pan-Armenian
Festival "One Nation, One Culture" visited on July 24 the
Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex in Tsitsernakaberd, laid a
wreath at the memorial and flowers at the Eternal Flame. All of
them knelt in honor of the Armenian Genocide victims' memory.
Director of One Nation, One Culture Foundation - the
festival organizer - Ms. Tamara Poghosian called the sincere act
of kneeling in memory of the genocide victims an unprecdented
step. In her words, it shows that the new generation also
understands its mission and starts to realize the value of
statehood. In the opinion of Ms. Poghosian, in general "the
festival is slowly turning into a national pilgrimage, which is
of great importance". The participants visited the Mother See of
Holy Etchmiadzin, the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial, cultural and
historical sites of Armenia, met with statesmen and members of
the delegations from various countries. "Today we are in the
process of creating a field of spiritual unity," the director of
One Nation, One Culture Foundation said, adding that only
pilgrimage, only devotion, only unification around one idea can
bring to the Homeland 1,000-1,500 Armenians from various places
of the world, and "they knelt in Tsitsernakaberd to honor our
past, our history, our victims, and our greatest symbol - our
national unity".
T. Poghosian said that the performances of cultural groups
during the festival were not competitive performances:
"By remaining Armenians outside Armenia, people solve the
problem of Armenian identity preservation: they speak, sing and
"dance" in Armenian. 1,500 Armenians from various countries are
currently in the Homeland: let the 10 million Armenian nation
see what has happened so as to also participate in this national
pilgrimage next year," she stated.
T. Pohosian said that the festival unifies the Armenians
all over the world round national problems and the Mother
Homeland, and the idea of the festival contributes to national
unity as well. According to her, the festival includes "Armenia
to the Diaspora" and "The Diaspora to Armenia" concert programs,
through which the two sections of the Armenian people present
their cultural achievements and show their unity around the
Homeland. She noted that the Armenian art of dancing is
especially popular in the Diaspora and for that reason the
number of dance groups is increasing with each festival. "The
festival is no longer in the Republic of Armenia, but covers the
Diaspora," she said, underlining that each year Diaspora
Armenians look forward to this festival, they make new
proposals, which are accepted with great pleasure.
T. Poghosian considered the prospects of One Nation, One
Culture festival as good: "Each generation should have its
perception of the festival, each generation should support our
cultural heritage in its own way: it is an easy thing, the most
important thing is become a bearer of that cultural heritage,
which is also one of the main missions of the festival," she
said.
In the view of Saro Gharslian - the head of a delegation
participating in the festival for the fourth time, director of
the Artistic Unit of the House of Culture in the city of
Nonotsminda (Javakhk) - thanks to the idea of the festival, the
Armenians all over the world act as a united force, as a fist,
no matter what country they represent: Georgia, Canada or the
U.S. The international recognition of the Armenian Genocide has
been the most painful problem of the Armenian people over the
past 95 years. The festival participant expressed an opinion
that the entire world should recognize the Genocide by its 100th
anniversary. "It does not matter whether Turkey will recognize
it or not - let the entire world, the U.S. recognize the
Genocide, and the Turks will recognize it "automatically",
because it is a historical fact," he said.
According to Alina Grigorian who heads of the Erebuni dance
group of Pero Union from Nor Jugha (Iran), they are
participating in the festival for the fourth time, the children
enjoy it very much, each time waiting impatiently for the next
festival which allows them to become acquainted with their
coevals and enter into correspondence with them. A. Grigorian
considered the festival a force uninfying people around the key
national prolems. She expressed confidence that Turkey would
recognize the Armenian Genocide - "we in Iran make a lot of
efforts in that direction".
In the words of Mikael Heyranov - the head of a 100-member
group from Tbilisi - his ancestors from Mush, Van and
Cilicia were survivors of the 1894-1895 massacres in Turkey. He
also believes that Turkey will recognize the Armenian Genocide
if "the United States puts a bit of pressure on it".