26.04.2017
Service of Remembrance for Those Who Died in the Armenian Genocide
A service of remembrance to mark the 102nd anniversary of the start of the Armenian Genocide took place in Christ Church Cathedral on Monday evening, April 24. Archbishop Michael Jackson presided and also present was the Revd Bill Mullally, President of the Methodist Church in Ireland along with Dean Dermot Dunne, Canon David Gillespie and the Revd Ken Rue. The president of the Jewish Representative Council, Mr Leonard Abrahamson was also in attendance.
During the service, which started with a minute’s silence in remembrance of all atrocities, disasters and the Armenian Genocide, there were Bible readings in English and Armenian and there was beautiful Armenian music. Three speakers addressed different aspects of the Armenian Genocide.
Professor Maria Bagramian (School of Philosophy at UCD), an Armenian philosopher born in Iran, gave a talk entitled ‘The Denial of Genocide Perpetuates Testimonial Injustice’. She said that genocide had shaped the collective psyche of the Armenian people. People who denied the genocide robbed the bearers of testimony of their identity and humanity, she stated. You can read the full text of her talk here.
Sunniva McDonagh SC is a barrister practicing principally in the area of judicial review and fundamental rights. She spoke about human rights and human rights law and said the failure to acknowledge properly the wrongs perpetrated upon the Armenian people has had a huge effect on the world afterwards. She said the term ‘genocide’ could be applied to the events of 1915. She also spoke of transitional justice as a means of society’s attempts to come to terms with large scale events to get justice and reconciliation. You can read the full text of her talk here.
Ms Hayarpi Drmeyan, Consul of the Armenian Embassy to the UK and Ireland referred in her remarks to the tragic destiny of the Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire. She mentioned that the pain and memory of the first genocide of the 20th century will live forever in the hearts and minds of all Armenians. The representative of the Embassy underlined that the impunity of the perpetrators of Armenian Genocide, its denial and inaction at that time to condemn and recognize this crime against humanity prepared grounds for the Holocaust, Rwanda genocide and other mass atrocities against humanity, including what we witness today in the Middle East. She also stressed the importance of the concerted efforts in preventing future genocides. Consul of the Armenian Embassy appreciated the efforts of those countries, which became a shelter for the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and also contributed to the international recognition of the Genocide of Armenians.
Dean Dermot Dunne helped to draw the strands of the evening together. “With the need for acknowledgement that the genocide happened, the question remains – what about forgiveness?” he asked.
Archbishop Jackson concluded the service by thanking everyone who had enabled the service of remembrance and guided meditation which brought those present into the heart of what it is to be Armenian and to carry the pain of genocide. The evening concluded with the laying of flowers at the Khachkar Memorial which is located in the cathedral grounds.