All participants of One Nation, One Culture festival kneel in honor of Armenian Genocide victims' memory | The Noyan Tapan Highlights Weekly

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".

Mashurian Sona