01.04.2023


On April 1, the delegation led by the head of the Sweden-Armenia friendship group of the Swedish Parliament, Björn Söder, visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial, accompanied by the member of the RA NA Armenia-Sweden friendship group, MP Lilit Minasyan.

The delegation was greeted by Lusine Abrahamyan, the AGMI Deputy Director for Museum Affairs, who narrated the history of the creation of the Memorial. She also presented the guests with the history of the three khachkars placed in the Tsitsernakaberd area in memory of the Armenians who died in the massacres in the cities of Sumgait, Kirovabad (Gandzak) and Baku in the last century organised by the Azerbaijani government, and the stories of the five freedom fighters buried in front of Hushapat during the Artsakh war, emphasizing the connection between what happened and the Armenian Genocide.

The guests put flowers at the Eternal Fire and observed a minute’s silence in memory of the innocent martyrs of the Armenian Genocide.

Mrs. Abrahamyan also presented the history and significance of Hushapat, which contains (in special niches which house small jugs) soil samples collected from the graves of a number of foreign public figures, politicians, intellectuals, dignitaries and missionaries who raised their voices in protest against the widespread massacres and deportations of Armenians carried out by the Turkish government authorities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The guests listened with special attention to the pro-Armenian activities of the Swedish missionary Alma Johansson.

They also toured the Armenian Genocide Museum and got acquainted with the permanent and temporary exhibitions there, after which they left notes in the Memory Book for Honourable Guests.

Anri Karapet, an Armenian member of the Swedish parliament, also arrived in Armenia as part of the Swedish delegation