Armenians in Georgia gathered outside the embassy of Turkey in Tbilisi. (DF Watch photo.)
TBILISI, DFWatch–The Armenian community in Georgia on Wednesday held a rally outside the Turkish embassy in Tbilisi. Their demand was that Turkey must recognize the Armenian genocide in 1915 and commemorate the victims.
Representatives of Armenian organizations in Georgia recently appealed to local government to start considering recognizing the Armenian genocide. 21 states have currently recognized it, including Germany, France, Greece, Belgium, Canada, Switzerland, Russia and Poland.
April 24 is a public holiday in Armenia and the day is observed by Armenians in many countries. (DF Watch photo.)
Armenians in Georgia have raised the issue with the government in the past years, but without results.
Levan Berdzenishvili, a member of parliament from the Georgian Dream coalition, last week told journalists that Armenians shouldn’t have complaints to Georgia in this regards.
“We sheltered them and expressed our position, when all those events took place. It is not fair to demand more in political regards,” he said, adding that it is politically unimaginable to recognize the Armenian genocide. “Naturally, this will never take place in any case,” he said.
Participants at Wednesday’s rally performed the national anthem of Armenia. Organizers and others addressed the crowd in the Armenian language and shouted the Armenian word for ‘recognize’ at the Turkish embassy.
One of the rally participants, Marina Khachaturova, explained that Armenians mobilize on April 24 every year in many countries of the world.
“Turkey should recognize everything what happened then. We request the same from Georgia, which should also recognize it,” she said. “Everything is proven. There is an archive and much evidence.”
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