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World Report

Armenia Reclaims Hero, Heritage

Aired March 12, 2000 - 2:16 p.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DEBRA DAUGHERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Now victims of another genocide have received little international attention. Armenians accuse Turkey of murdering one and a half million of their countrymen between 1915 and 1917. One man who helped lead the fight to overthrow Turkish rule has finally returned to his homeland.

Armenian TV reports on the special ceremonies held to honor this Armenian hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA HAKOBYAN, ARMENIAN TV (voice-over): The heroes do not die. They continue to live in people's hearts and minds. For more than 70 years, Armenians have been remembering their national hero, General Andranic Nranian, leader of the Armenian resistance to the Ottoman army.

"When I die, let my body belong to no one but the Armenian people, my valiant warriors," said he. But he died far away from Armenia, in exile in California in 1927. Before Armenia's independence in 1991, the Soviet authorities had been refusing to let Andranic's body be repatriated. His wish to be buried in his homeland materialized only 71 years after his death. The remains of Andranic were brought from a Paris cemetery into Armenia.

VARDAN NRANIAN, ANDRANIC'S NEPHEW (through translator): It is so exciting to see that his wish to be back home came true after many years. He had been trying to return to Armenia all those years he spent abroad.

HAKOBYAN: Tens of thousands of people joined Andranic's relatives and high-ranking officials for the special requiem ceremony at the mother (ph) church of Armenia in Ismaegi (ph). The funeral procession walked through caravan to the cemetery of Armenia's heroes, killed with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan.

ROBERT KOCHARIAN, PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA (through translator): The transfer of Andranic's remains is a great event. It was our duty to honor his memory.

HAKOBYAN: And when it's wrote in the history, his part is difficult to overestimate. Heroes to prominence with his active participation in Armenia's guerrilla forces, fighting against the despotic sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Adulhamid. ARAM SARKISSIAN, ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I believe that our people have always wanted the ashes of our great commander to be brought to his native land. Although this occasion is sad, it is still festive.

HAKOBYAN: The repatriation of the national hero Andranic was especially important now, at the time when Armenia cruises (ph) a difficult path, with the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, for world peace and stability.

This is Julia Hakobyan, Armenian National TV, especially for CNN WORLD REPORT.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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