A Centennial Celebration of Hope and Survival

Additionally, Sergey Lavrov, the Foreign Minister of Russia, who was not scheduled to participate, had joined his boss, Putin.

Although the US disappointed the Armenians with President Obama’s message, which did not include the “g” word in his annual message, the US was represented by the Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew and four legislators, while the US participation in the Gallipoli commemoration was on the ambassadorial level. That, perhaps, was a subtle message.

Armenia’s only Christian neighbor, Georgia, was represented by the lowest level delegation, while they set their top tier to Gallipoli, headed by the Minister of Defense.

Taking into consideration of relative clout of Turkey and Armenia on the world political scene, the latter fared much better because justice was on its side, to outweigh Ankara’s dishonest — and frankly silly — games.

The ceremony at Tzitzernakabert was perfectly choreographed to impress all participants. The seats had a blanket with them and plastic raincoats were distributed. Only space heaters were not considered and all those heads of state and audience members were shivering in the bitter cold. Charles Aznavour was bundled in a blanket. President Putin gave the impression that he was frustrated with the cold and he jumped a few pages in his speech, leaving out the word genocide. Burt the Turks were angry at him anyway because his website mentioned that he was on a trip to Armenia to take part in the centennial commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.

Although the beatification ceremony at Echmiadzin was heart warming, the religious segment was overplayed at the Genocide monument.

The weather was not cooperative for two days. That did not dampen the enthusiasm of the youth who attended the concert of System of a Down at Republic Square. They were singing and dancing in the pouring rain, echoing the pulse of the young generation around the world. The lead singer, Serj Tankian, did not fail either to dispense a political message in his typical style and language.

The concluding concert was also scheduled to be performed outdoors at Republic Square where a huge stage had been built, but because of the inclement weather, it was moved to the Opera House, with only one hour’s delay. All the background video presentations and lighting functioned perfectly in the new venue.

The concluding classical concert, which was titled “Renaissance,” was a huge feat of organization, in addition to its success as a fantastic music.

Hundreds of musicians were assembled from around the world to rehearse in a very short time and move up with superb music under the baton of four world-class conductors, Mikhail Yurowski (Germany). Hovhaness Chekijian (Armenia) Gianluca Marciano (Italy) and Garen Sempatyan.

Armenia has a wealth of musicians who perform on the most prestigious stages around the world. This time around, they had served as a network to enlist musicians from 43 countries to participate in this unique concert.

The centennial proved to be a celebration rather than mournful. It was a celebration of life. It created a tremendous momentum around the world.

What we need to do on the 101st anniversary is to build on that momentum, politicize the masses, preserve unity and move on.