Celebration of 70th anniversary of victory in Great Patriotic War should prioritize countering revision of history and glorification of Nazism, Sargsyan says

YEREVAN, October 10. / ARKA /. The celebration of the 70th anniversary of Soviet Union’s victory in the Great Patriotic War (World War II) should prioritize for former Soviet republics countering attempts to revise history and glorify Nazism. 

The focus of events marking the anniversary should be on the fight against racism, xenophobia and intolerance, prevention of crimes against humanity, Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan said on Friday at a CIS summit in Minsk. 

According to him, the Armenian nation knows very well what religious and ethnic intolerance is, as next year it will mark the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. 

"We proceed from the fact that one of the most important tools for preventing recurrence of this terrible crime is the recognition and condemnation of committed crimes against humanity,” said Sargsyan.  

According to the president, one of the latest acts of religious intolerance was the explosion of the Armenian Church of Holy Martyrs in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor by the terrorist group calling itself the "Islamic State". 

"The desecration of the remains of the victims of the Genocide, kept at the church, inhuman treatment of Christians, Yazidis, and other minorities in the Middle East, can not be justified and can not fit in with the philosophy of the known religions, including Islam. We are grateful to all those who strongly condemned that barbarity," said Sargsyan. 

According to him, amid worsening political situation in many regions of the world and mounting  international tension cooperation within the Commonwealth of Independent States should be aimed at ensuring peace and stability, settlement of existing and prevention of possible conflicts by peaceful means on the basis of international law. -0-