Iyad Youghar, Chairman of the International Circassian Council
If anyone knows the Armenian people the way I know my dear and lifelong Armenian friends, it is impossible not to be on their side. Once on their side, one is overwhelmed by emotions of respect, liking and trust for the sons and daughters of this gallant small Caucasian nation. Armenians always put their hearts and minds in everything they touch. They make the best of everything they do, and they never give up on perfecting life around them.
I am a Diaspora Circassian who is full of fear that my people are losing their identity. The courage and resilience of the Armenians protecting their nation and its identity inside and outside Armenia is an example the Circassian people must follow. Just like Circassians, the Armenian nation has the overwhelming majority of its people living outside its homeland.
This is the result of a ruthless Genocide and forced expulsion committed against it and aimed at annihilating it. Away from Armenia, they adopted life in many countries to their culture and their identity, language and national aspirations. Bravely and tenaciously, they have and will continue to survive.
Any human knowing the tragedy of the Armenians does not need any evidence whether there was Genocide. Any living Armenian one meets outside Armenia is an indisputable living proof of the suffering and perseverance of this Caucasian nation and its people.
As a Circassian, I know and recognize the suffering and the tragedy of my Armenian friends and their nation to be one of the worst Genocides in recorded human history.
I have known countless credible stories of their sufferings. Among Circassians there are many families who adopted and raised Armenian children who lost their parents in the Armenian Genocide as their own ones.
On behalf of many Circassians I fully recognize, without any exceptions, the suffering of the dear Armenian people to be a Genocide and urge all the Circassians to acknowledge that recognizing the Armenian Genocide will serve to prevent any future suffering of the Armenian, the Circassian people and all humanity.