ARMENIANS MARK 92ND ANNIVERSARY OF MASS KILLINGS IN OTTOMAN EMPIRE
AP Worldstream
Published: Apr 24, 2007
Tens of thousands of Armenians marked the 92nd anniversary of mass
killings in the Ottoman Empire Tuesday, again calling on Turkey and
the world to recognize the slayings as genocide.
Grim-faced mourners waving flags marched through Yerevan to lay
flowers at a large hilltop granite memorial.
"We came here to pay tribute to the victims, so that our neighbors
wouldn’t for a minute think that we could forget about this, so that
this wouldn’t happen in the future," said acting Defense Minister
Michael Arutyunian.
The April 24 anniversary marks the day in 1915 when Turkish authorities
executed a large group of Armenian intellectuals and political leaders,
accusing them of helping the invading Russian army during World War I.
Historians estimate up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by
Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed
by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey denies
the deaths constituted genocide, saying that the toll has been inflated
and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.
Many countries, including Russia and France, have officially recognized
the event as genocide. A resolution pending before the U.S. Congress
that would accuse Ottoman Turks of committing genocide has prompted
warnings from Ankara that its passage would harm relations with
Washington.