You will never be forgotten

Hiarpi Airapetyan, Staff Writer

The Armenian Genocide (April 24, 1915 to 1918) was the systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire Turks during WWI.

As an Armenian in 2017, it is hard to understand why the Armenian Genocide is not recognized world wide. It has been 102 years since this horrific event and until this day, it still causes great pain for not only the Armenians in Armenia, but for us, Armenians in the United States and across the globe.

Every year on April 24 there are marches in various locations that take place in order to bring awareness to what happened to try and convince people all around,  and the Turkish government, to own up to what has been done to our people.

On April 24, 2015, the Armenian community recognized the 100th anniversary of the genocide. This day was significant because it was our last ditch effort to have it recognized.

After 100 years pass, the statute of limitations runs out, meaning that the Turkish government can never be held accountable for any actions that took place in 1915. To the Armenian communities around the world a statute of limitations means nothing, it means we fight harder to make sure no one forgets what happened.

To me, 2015 was a hard time, even though there was many people fighting to have this genocide recognized, there was a sense of knowing in my heart that no matter how hard we really tried, there was no way that the Turkish government would recognize it. At the same time, looking around and seeing how many people knew about the genocide was already good enough too.

We as a community, have a phrase that we live by “Our wounds are still open, we remember.” This quote means more than people think, to me, this quote means no matter what the situation, no matter who recognizes this genocide, the people that were lost and the people that endured, will never be forgotten.