Seimas Group for the Inter-Parliamentary Relations with the Republic of Armenia urged states which have not yet done so to recognise the Armenian Genocide

Press release, 22 April 2021

On 24 April 2021, Lithuania, together with many countries worldwide, will commemorate the Day of Armenian Genocide, the first systematic genocide of the 20th century launched in 1915 in the then Ottoman Empire.

On the night of 23– 24 April 1915, known as the Red Sunday, the Ottoman government imprisoned about 250 Armenian intellectuals, including priests, lawyers, poets, artists, musicians, journalists, and parliamentarians and eventually murdered them all. This was the beginning of the Armenian Genocide, which claimed a total of over 1.5 million lives.

In the framework of commemoration of this tragedy, the Seimas Group for Inter-Parliamentary Relations with the Republic of Armenia issued a statement.

‘While commemorating the 106th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and expressing solidarity with the Armenian nation and respect for the innocent victims rooted in the spirit of justice, Members of the Seimas Group for Inter-Parliamentary Relations urge all states that have not yet done so to recognise this historical fact,’ said Raimundas Lopata, Head of the Group, as part of his intervention at the Seimas sitting.

In solidarity with the Armenian nation, the Seimas condemned the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Empire in 1915 by a statement adopted on 15 December 2005.

Saulė Eglė Trembo, Chief Specialist, Press Office, Information and Communication Department, tel. +370 5 239 6203, e-mail: [email protected]