On the anniversary of the nuclear bomb attack on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, an expedition of Spaniards and Turks has reached the summit of legendary Mount Ararat to "pay homage to the memory of the victims of that disaster and strengthen an open and diverse global movement that rejects all forms of violence and affirms the human being as the highest value."

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Pressenza, Ankara, 2009-08-06

Today, August 6, in memory of the nuclear disaster of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a team of the World March composed of Turks and Spaniards reached the summit of Mount Ararat.

In this spiritually significant place, the same words read in Hiroshima and in hundreds of cities by members of the World March were read aloud and carried out over the surrounding landscape by the winds. At more than 5000 metres, the text read by the climbers became a kind of personal pledge: "The horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has not been consigned to history. The images of pain and absurd death continue to live in our consciences. But at the same time they feed our profound aspiration for a world where this atrocity will never be possible again. ... The World March for Peace and Nonviolence is a call to the personal conscience of every one of us; to raise our voices together. It's the moral thing to do and what we need to do in this difficult moment in which we live."

This was the objective of this alpine adventure: to raise awareness of the urgent need for nuclear disarmament, and give notice of the actions that will be carried out in Turkey in the coming months, especially during the latter part of October when the World March passes through this country that bridges the continents of Europe and Asia.

(Translation Spanish to English: Roberto Verdecchia)

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