April 24 Tsitsernakaberd Visitors Asked to Pay Respects Also to Victims of Japan Earthquake

Upon an initiative of the Yerevan-based International Cultural Bank (ICB), a monument symbolizing friendship between the Armenian and Japanese people has been placed outside the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute in Yerevan, said ICB project coordinator Levon Ivanyan and chair Karapet Zakoyan at a press conference in the Armenian capital today.

The ICB representatives urged those visiting the Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Monument on April 24 to stand for a moment in front of the new monument and place a single flower from those in their hand at the monument to commemorate the victims of the 8.9 magnitude earthquake followed by a tsunami of immense scale which struck the east coast of Japan’s Tōhoku region on Mar. 11.

Ivanyan and Zakoyan also encouraged visitors to write a couple of lines in the memorial logbook and leave some money in the collection box, noting that these gestures will show that the Armenian people are expressing their support and solidarity for the Japanese people.

The ICB representatives also informed the press that 24-hour footage of the Genocide memorial ceremony that day will be broadcast on the A1+ website and also in Japan.

“By ensuring 24-hour broadcasting, we have the possibility of showing the world that we are mourning our own personal loss, but that we also remember others’ losses,” said Zakoyan.

Ivanyan added that through these gestures, they are displaying a moral approach and “we are going to do that very gently and within limits, so that one event doesn’t disturb or get mixed up with the other.”