Michael Chlenov, Secretary General of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC), vice-president of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), took part in the memorial events in Yerevan to mark the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire.
Speaking at the forum "Against the Crime of Genocide," Michael Chlenov stressed: "The Jewish people, who survived centuries of cruel persecution, extrajudicial executions and bloody pogroms, culminating with the tragedy of the Holocaust, as no other nation is able to feel the pain of our Armenian brothers. We, the people, doomed to store in the memory the tragic moments of our history, must constantly remind the world that genocide should not be repeated. Our collective memory should be a barrier against the recurrence of genocide."
The EAJC delegation, which included Mikhail Chlenov, Rimma Vardzhapetyan, head of the Jewish community in Armenia, a member of the EAJC General Council and Peter Weinzierl, a representative of the EAJC President for Special Affairs, laid wreaths on behalf of EAJC and WJC to the Armenian Genocide Memorial.
Armenia is home to a Jewish community of around 1,000 members.