London Free Press, Ontario, Canada
April 26 2005
Armenians mark anniversary of mass killings of ancestors
YEREVAN, ARMENIA — Hundreds of thousands of Armenians marked the
90th anniversary of the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire, vowing to press their case to have the killings recognized by
Turkey and the world as genocide. Waving flags and carrying flowers,
people streamed through the Armenian capital and marched up to a
massive hilltop granite memorial to hear speeches and prayers.
Weeping mourners filed into the circular block memorial, laying
carnations on a flat surface surrounding a burning flame.
The country observed a minute of silence and Yerevan residents were
to place candles on window sills in memory of the victims.
Ottoman authorities began rounding up intellectuals, diplomats and
other influential Armenians in Istanbul on April 24, 1915, as
violence and unrest grew, particularly in the eastern parts of the
country.
Armenia says up to 1.5 million Armenians died or were killed over
several years as part of a campaign to force them out of eastern
Turkey.
Turkey acknowledges large numbers of Armenians died, but says the
figure is inflated and the deaths occurred in civil unrest during the
collapse of the Ottoman Empire.