YEREVAN – The Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (SDHP) concluded its 20th General Congress on September 13 with a visit of the delegation representing 17 countries around the world to the Yerablur military cemetery located on a hilltop in the outskirts of Yerevan.
The conclusion of the Congress coincided with the 100th anniversary the historic 7th General Congress held in Constanţa, Romania, in 1913, where members stressed their concern of the Ittihad (Young Turk) government’s blatant disregard of Armenian lives and chose to act to defend the Armenian peoples by any means necessary, including the assassination of the leaders of the Ittihad (Young Turk) party, the same leaders that were planning the Genocide of the Armenian people. Unfortunately, these secret objectives were passed on to the Ottomans by an Armenian agent for the government; consequently as soon as the delegates arrived in Constantinople, they were arrested and subsequently 20 were hung a few weeks after the beginning of the Armenian Genocide on June 15, 1915.
Paying tribute to all those who lost their lives defending the Armenian nation, the newly elected SDHP Central Committee’s first official function was to lay a wreath at the Yerablur memorial.