26.05.2025


U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Jacob McGee visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial, accompanied by U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission in Armenia, David Allen.

The guests were welcomed by the Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, Edita Gzoyan, who led them to the Memorial and presented the history of its creation. Ms. Gzoyan also spoke about the three khachkars (cross-stones) placed on the grounds of Tsitsernakaberd, dedicated to the victims of the anti-Armenian massacres organized by the Azerbaijani authorities in the cities of Sumgait, Kirovabad (Gandzak), and Baku at the end of the 20th century. She also shared the stories of five freedom fighters buried in front of the Memorial Wall during the Artsakh Liberation War, emphasizing the connection between these events and the Armenian Genocide.

The members of the U.S. delegation laid flowers at the Eternal Fire and observed a moment of silence in memory of the innocent martyrs of the Armenian Genocide.

Afterwards, Edita Gzoyan guided the guests to the Memorial Wall, where in special niches are small urns filled with soil from the graves of foreign public, political, intellectual, and missionary figures who raised their voices in protest against the mass killings and genocide of Armenians perpetrated by the Turkish government in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Speaking about the humanitarian work of Henry Morgenthau and Clara Barton, she emphasized that thanks to their efforts, American society was well informed about the massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, and that the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the United States was also a tribute to the memory of those individuals.

At the end of the visit, AGMI Director Edita Gzoyan thanked Jacob McGee for his visit and presented him with books about the Armenian Genocide.