TODAY ARMENIA COMMEMORATES VICTIMS OF 1915 ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
arminfo
2008-04-24 12:40:00
ArmInfo. Today, Armenia commemorates victims of 1915 Armenian Genocide
in Ottoman Turkey. Thousands of people move to Tsitsernakaberd Memorial
form early morning to put flowers to the Eternal Flame. Representatives
of the country’s authorities: RA president, Parliament chairman, prime
minister, chairman of the Constitutional Court, parliamentarians,
ministers, members of different states’ diplomatic missions,
accredit in Armenia and Catholicos of All Armenians will visit
the Memorial and lay wreathes. The Armenian Genocide was carried
out in 1878-1922 in the territories of Ottoman Empire (Turkey),
historically called Western Armenia (now Eastern Anatolia), populated
mostly with Armenians at that time. The policy, which led to the
Armenian Genocide, was conditioned, first of all, by the ideology of
Pan-Turkism characterized by intolerance to non-Turkic peoples. 800
representatives of the Armenian intellectuals, including the writers
Grigor Zohrab, Daniel Varuzhan, Siamanto, Ruben Sevak, were arrested
and then killed in Istanbul on April 24, 1915. Massacre and deportation
of the Armenians in Western Armenia started in May-June, 1915. Over
1,5 million Armenians were exterminated during 1915-1923, and 600,000
escaped Armenians spread over different countries. The Armenians of the
whole world have been achieving for many years for the world community
to recognize the fact of Genocide officially. Argentine and Uruguay
were the first to recognize the Armenian Genocide in1965. Later, the
Genocide was condemned by the parliaments of Cyprus (1990), Russia
(1995), Greece (1996) Lebanon (1997) and Belgium (1998). In 2000,
the Armenian Genocide was recognized by the parliaments of Italy and
France, and later, by a number of other European countries, as well
as Head of Vatican – the Pope John Paul II. The Armenian Genocide
was recognized in 43 of 50 American states. On November 15, 2000,
the European Parliament adopted a Resolution demanding recognition
of the Genocide fact by Turkey.