Athens: National Defense Minister Dendias represented PM at event commemoratin

“The Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day is not merely a date, but part of the collective memory of humanity,” emphasized National Defense Minister Nikos Dendias on Sunday, at an event in Athens where he represented the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The event, marking 111 years since the Armenian Genocide and 30 years since its recognition by the Hellenic Parliament, was organized at the Athens Conservatoire by the Armenian National Committee of Greece in cooperation with the Region of Attica.

In his speech, Dendias stressed that Greece “stands and will always stand by Armenia, with a sense of responsibility toward its own history.” He underlined that the events of April 24, 1915 marked the beginning of a systematic extermination of the Armenian people by the Young Turk leadership, which, in the name of national purity, violated every principle of humanity – starting with the arrest of intellectual, religious, and community leaders in Istanbul, then Constantinople.

He also placed the genocide in a broader historical context, referring to earlier atrocities such as the Herero and Namaqua Genocide, and noting the presence and awareness of German officers within the Ottoman military leadership at the time.

Dendias pointed out that modern Germany has officially recognized the Armenian Genocide, acknowledging historical responsibility. He stressed that the genocide was not a spontaneous outbreak of violence, but a fully organized and deliberate state plan – an essential criterion for its recognition as genocide by modern scholarship.

Honoring the Armenian people, he described them as a nation with deep historical, cultural, and spiritual roots, noting their shared historical path with Greeks. He recalled that Greece welcomed tens of thousands of Armenian refugees after both the genocide and the Greco-Turkish War, emphasizing that the Armenian community in Greece has since flourished and contributed significantly to society.
He also highlighted the role of the Hellenic Parliament in formally recognizing April 24 as a day of remembrance during the tenure of former Speaker Apostolos Kaklamanis, describing this act as one of justice, dignity, and truth.

Concluding, Dendias warned that humanity has not sufficiently learned from past genocides, citing later atrocities such as the The Holocaust and the Rwandan Genocide. He reaffirmed Greece’s solidarity with Armenia, honoring the victims and the resilience of the Armenian people, who endured and ultimately established a modern state.