MEMORIAL DAY OF VICTIMS OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN OTTOMAN TURKEY IN 1915 COMMEMORATED ALL OVER THE WORLD TODAY

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
April 24 2006

YEREVAN, April 24. /ARKA/. In April 24, the whole world commemorates
the day of victims of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire, first
such large-scale crime in 20th century. On this day in 1915, Turkey
began annihilating Armenian intellectual elite and went on with total
and utter extermination of Armenians on their historical territory.

This sorrowful date is commemorated not only in Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh but also in other foreign countries by foreign
Armenians and friends of the Armenian nation.

At 7 pm (local time), in Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Diaspora a
minute of silence will be observed to commemorate innocent victims
of Genocide.

Today in Yerevan people will take flowers to the “Tsitsernakaberd”
Genocide Memorial. The Memorial will be visited by the RA President,
RA Government members and deputies of the RA National Assembly,
foreign diplomats and representatives of international organizations,
thousands of local inhabitants and representatives of Diaspora.

Today Armenian organizations of Diaspora intend to conduct meetings in
front of Turkish Embassies and demand recognition of Armenian Genocide.

After the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, the Christian peoples of
the Baltic countries threw off the yoke of the Ottoman Empire. By 1912,
the Ottoman Empire had lost almost all its territorial possessions
in Europe except for Istanbul and its suburbs. As a result, the
Armenians of Western Armenia were the largest Christian people that
remained under the imperial yoke. To retain power in the Asian part
of the territory, the imperial Government set itself the task of
violent assimilation or annihilation of Western Armenians that were
an obstacle to the formation of a pan-Turkic state.

The consistent policy of destroying Armenians in their historical land
was launched in the 90th of the 19th century and reached its climax
during World War I, when about 1.5mln fell victim to massacre and
deportation, and 350,000 Armenians fled to the Caucasus and Europe. As
a result only 150,000 Armenians remained in Turkey of the 2,000,000
that had resided in that country by early 20th century. The reason
why Turkish pogrom-makers could easily killed so many Armenians is
that the Armenian population and political parties were not prepared
for the impending danger of annihilation. However, in some places the
Armenian population offered resistance to Turkish vandals. The Van
Armenians organized self-defense and successfully rebutted the enemy’s
attacks. They succeeded in keeping the city under their control until
the arrival of Russian troops and Armenian voluntaries. The Armenians
in Shapin Garakhisar, Mush, Sasun, Shatakh offered armed resistance
to the enemy that exceeded them in strength many times. The defense
of Mount Musa in Suetin lasted for 40 days.

Armenians’ self-defense in 1915 is a heroic chapter of the people’s
national-liberation struggle.

The immediate mastermind of the Genocide was the Young Turkish
party Unity and progress, which was supported by the Government of
the Kaiser Germany, the ally of the Ottoman Empire in World Ware
I. The organizers of the crime managed to avoid punishment, but the
leaders of Young Turks were found and destroyed by Armenian patriots
in various parts of the world.

Modern-day Turkey does not consider the events genocide and has not
so far admitted this disgraceful fact, denying both the massacre
of hundreds of thousands of Armenians and moral, historical and
financial responsibility.

In 1965, in Soviet Armenia the movement for recognition of the Armenian
Genocide was revived in Armenia, which resulted by the recognition
of this fact by 15 countries and international organizations. Most
countries recognized the Armenian Genocide after 1998, when this
issue was put on the agenda of Armenia’s foreign policy. Over the
last few years, the recognition of the Armenian Genocide has been
widely advocated, and draft resolutions on the Armenian Genocide
have been put on the agenda of Parliaments and international
organizations. During the Genocide, the Armenian people was supported
by the best representatives of the world intelligentsia: Anatol France,
Franz Werfel, Valery Bryusov, Maxim Gorgy, Frittef Nansen and others.

The fact of genocide has been already recognized by many countries,
namely Uruguay (first in 1965 officially recognized the Armenian
Genocide), Russia, France, Argentina, Greece, Low Chamber of the
Italian Parliament, majority of states of the USA, Parliaments
of Greece, Cyprus, Argentina, Belgium, Wales, National Council of
Switzerland, Chamber of Communities of the Canadian Parliament and
Seim of Poland.

The Armenian Genocide in Turkey caused a tremendous damage to the
Armenian people’s spiritual and material culture. In 1915-1916 and
following years thousands of Armenian manuscripts kept in Armenian
monasteries, hundreds of historical and cultural monuments were
destroyed, and the people’s holy places were defiled. The destruction
of historical and architectural monuments, misappropriation of the
Armenian people’s cultural values continues in Turkey now as well.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress