The Providence Journal (Rhode Island)
April 22, 2004 Thursday
West Bay

Rite to commemorate Armenian Genocide

CRANSTON – Mayor Stephen P. Laffey will preside tomorrow evening at a
ceremony in front of City Hall to mark the 89th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Turkish Empire.

About 1.5-million Armenians were slaughtered by the Turks between
1915 and 1923, an episode that the Turkish government to this day has
refused to acknowledge.

“The people of Armenia, adults and children alike, peacefully
practiced Christianity and were imprisoned and killed for it,” Laffey
said. “Since then, many people have turned a blind eye to the events.
That’s a dangerous course of action one which could doom history to
repeat itself.”

Laffey will be joined in the 6 p.m. ceremony by a member of the
clergy and a survivor of the genocide.