Thousands of Armenians mark anniversary of 1915 genocide

Thousands of Armenians mark anniversary of 1915 genocide

Agence France Presse — English
April 23, 2006 Sunday 6:54 PM GMT

YEREVAN, April 23 2006 — More than 2,000 Armenians marched through
the streets of Yerevan Sunday evening to mark the 91st anniversary
of the 1915 genocide carried out under the Ottoman empire.

The demonstrators gathered on the eve of the anniversary of the
1915 massacre and set light to a Turkish flag to protest against the
Turkish government’s refusal to recognise the killings as genocide.

Yerevan claims 1.5 million people died in 1915, while Turkey puts
the death toll at between 300,000 and 500,000.

The demonstrators, most of them young, also carried the flags of
those countries that recognise the Armenian genocide, among them most
European nations.

They marched towards the town centre monument built to commemorate
the victims of the 1915 genocide.

The protest is organised every year by the youth wing of the
nationalist Dachnaktsoutioun party.

“We have to continue our struggle,” said Armenian MP Armen Rostomian,
who demanded that Ankara recognise the massacres as genocide.