In his speech at the 2019 Munich Security Conference, President Abdel Fatah Sisi stated that Egypt had hosted Armenians following the genocide against them 100 years ago by the Turkish of the Ottoman Empire.

"In Egypt, we have five million refugees [registered and unregistered], who do not live in camps. They have been treated as we dealt with Armenians [refugees] 100 years ago, when Egypt hosted them after the genocide," Sisi said.

The Armenian genocide, or known as the Armenian holocaust (Meds Yeghern), is one of this world’s miseries faced by a whole race. The date April 24, 1915 when the massacre conventionally started is still remembered by millions of people. The massacre started with murdering and arresting 235 to 270 Armenian intellectuals and leaders when they thought of rebelling against the Turks.

The Armenian National Committee of Egypt has labeled Sisi’s statement as a “pre-step” towards recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

“True, although the Egyptian president did not use the term “genocide”, he did however make the first step in this direction, by seeing the need for mentioning it in light of current realities,” the Armenian National Committee of Egypt said in a news release.

“Initially he spoke about Egypt having accepted Armenian refugees, however he did not speak about the reason. The Armenian National Committee of Egypt commends this step of the Egyptian president, assessing it not only as a pre-step towards recognizing the Armenian Genocide, but also as the Middle East’s and Northern Africa’s main actor’s positive response and vow to join the civilized initiative of the Republic of Armenia on preventing and banning future genocides.