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ARMENIANS MARK 91ST ANNIVERSARY OF MASS KILLINGS IN OTTOMAN EMPIRE
AP Worldstream
Apr 24, 2006
Hundreds of thousands of Armenians on Monday streamed to a hilltop
memorial in the capital, Yerevan, to mark the 91st anniversary of
mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
Armenia accuses Turkey of the massacre of up to 1.5 million Armenians
between 1915 and 1919, when Armenia was under the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey rejects the claim and says Armenians were killed in civil
unrest during the collapse of the empire.
Crowds of Armenians as well as expatriates living abroad laid flowers
and wreaths at the vast Genocide Victims Memorial overlooking Yerevan.
"Today we are paying tribute to the victims of the genocide of
Armenians," President Robert Kocharian said in an address to the
nation. "The Ottoman Empire and its successor state bear full
responsibly for this crime."
The killings began before April 24, but memorial services are held
on this date because it is the anniversary of the day in 1915 when
Turkish authorities executed a large group of Armenian intellectuals
and political leaders, accusing them of helping the invading Russian
army during World War I.
The commemoration events started late Sunday when several hundred
members of youth groups staged a burning of Turkey's national flag
and then marched through the city with torches and banners reading
"The blood of 2 million Armenians is on Turkey's conscience" and
"Genocide is the shame of humanity, and first of all of Turkey."
Armen Tumanyan, a computer programmer in Yerevan, took his 4-year-old
son, Karen, to participate in the commemoration ceremony. "He doesn't
understand yet what is happening, but I am sure he will come here with
his own children _ he will never forget his visit to the Memorial."
The former Soviet nation of Armenia has pushed for the United States
and other nations to declare the killings a genocide. Many countries,
including Russia and France, have officially recognized the event as
genocide, along with some U.S. states.
AP Worldstream
Apr 24, 2006
Hundreds of thousands of Armenians on Monday streamed to a hilltop
memorial in the capital, Yerevan, to mark the 91st anniversary of
mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
Armenia accuses Turkey of the massacre of up to 1.5 million Armenians
between 1915 and 1919, when Armenia was under the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey rejects the claim and says Armenians were killed in civil
unrest during the collapse of the empire.
Crowds of Armenians as well as expatriates living abroad laid flowers
and wreaths at the vast Genocide Victims Memorial overlooking Yerevan.
"Today we are paying tribute to the victims of the genocide of
Armenians," President Robert Kocharian said in an address to the
nation. "The Ottoman Empire and its successor state bear full
responsibly for this crime."
The killings began before April 24, but memorial services are held
on this date because it is the anniversary of the day in 1915 when
Turkish authorities executed a large group of Armenian intellectuals
and political leaders, accusing them of helping the invading Russian
army during World War I.
The commemoration events started late Sunday when several hundred
members of youth groups staged a burning of Turkey's national flag
and then marched through the city with torches and banners reading
"The blood of 2 million Armenians is on Turkey's conscience" and
"Genocide is the shame of humanity, and first of all of Turkey."
Armen Tumanyan, a computer programmer in Yerevan, took his 4-year-old
son, Karen, to participate in the commemoration ceremony. "He doesn't
understand yet what is happening, but I am sure he will come here with
his own children _ he will never forget his visit to the Memorial."
The former Soviet nation of Armenia has pushed for the United States
and other nations to declare the killings a genocide. Many countries,
including Russia and France, have officially recognized the event as
genocide, along with some U.S. states.