Sodertalje (AINA) -- The Armenian ambassador to Sweden, Mr Artak Apitonian, was the keynote speaker at an Assyrian commemoration event on Sunday, February. The day marks the commemoration of Naum Faik, an Assyrian national hero and one of the fathers of Assyrian nationalism.

"Armenians and Assyrians share a special relationship as two nations who have been subject to atrocities throughout history and genocide at the hands of the Ottomans in 1915," said the ambassador, emphasizing the cultural bonds between Assyrians and Armenians. "Several ancient texts by Assyrians exist today only in Armenian and before Armenians created their own alphabet they used the Assyrian alphabet for several centuries."

Both communities have continued to nurture their relationship in the diaspora and especially in Sweden where the Assyrian and Armenian national federations have cooperated to further the recognition of the genocides perpetuated against them in Ottoman Turkey at the turn of the last century. Leaders of the two communities have pledged to deepen their cooperation in this centennial year commemoration of the Turkish genocide of Assyrians, Armenians and Pontic Greeks, a genocide Turkey which turkey continues to deny.

The Turkish genocide occurred between 1915 and 1918 and claimed the lives of 750,000 Assyrians (75%), 1.5 million Armenians and 500,000 Greeks.

There are 100,000 Assyrians in Sweden, with 35,000 living in Sodertale, a city 34 kilometers south of Stockholm.