ARMENIANS MARK ANNIVERSARY OF 1915 MASS KILLINGS
by Mariam Harutunian
Agence France Presse — English
April 24, 2007 Tuesday 1:32 PM GMT
Armenians on Tuesday marked the 92nd anniversary of the killing of
hundreds of thousands of their compatriots under the Ottoman Empire,
an event recognized as genocide by many countries but a flashpoint
in relations between Turkey and the West.
Amid heavy snowfall, thousands climbed to a hilltop memorial for the
victims in the Armenian capital Yerevan.
Flowers were laid at the foot of the memorial, where an eternal flame
has burned since its construction in 1965, when Armenia was part of
the Soviet Union.
Officials including President Robert Kocharian were among those
paying tribute.
"The memory of this evil deed will always remain in our souls,"
Kocharian said in a statement.
"The international community has realized that genocide is not only
a crime against a distinct people, but against all mankind and that
the denial and concealment of such a crime is as dangerous as its
preparation and execution."
Many from Armenia’s widespread diaspora descend on Yerevan every year
for the annual ceremony.
Among them this year was American filmmaker Karla Garapedian, whose
recently released documentary "Screamers" examines the efforts of
US-based rock band System of a Down to have the killings recognized
as a genocide.
The band’s members are all grandchildren of survivors of the massacres.
"We will speak the truth about our own history, about what happened
to Armenians," Garapedian told AFP. "I know that Turkey wants to join
the EU. They have to apologize, to say ‘We made a great mistake and
we are sorry.’"
Hrant Gazarian, 24, arrived from Turkey and said he would lay a flower
at the memorial this year in honour of Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian
journalist killed in Turkey in January after being branded a traitor
by nationalists for urging an open debate on the 1915 killings.
Eleven suspects have been charged in Dink’s murder.
"Unfortunately, this time I am laying one more flower at the eternal
flame for Hrant Dink," Gazarian said.
"It has already been 100 days and those behind his murder have still
not been found and punished…. Turkey must recognize the genocide
so that there will not be more victims like Dink."
Armenians say up to 1.5 million died in orchestrated killings during
the final years of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey strongly rejects claims of a genocide, saying that 300,000
Armenians and at least an equal number of Turks were killed in civil
strife in 1915-1917 when the Christian Armenians, backed by Russia,
rose up against the Ottoman Empire.
The dispute has been a major obstacle in relations between Turkey and
Armenia, which have no diplomatic ties and whose border has remained
closed for more than decade.
It has also complicated relations between EU-aspirant Turkey and
many Western countries, especially those with large ethnic Armenian
communities.
More than 20 countries have officially recognized the killings as
genocide, including Belgium, Canada, Poland, Russia and Switzerland.
But many, including Britain and the United States, refuse to use the
term to describe the events, mindful of relations with Turkey.
In March, the Israeli parliament rejected a motion recognizing the
killings as a genocide. Israel has close diplomatic ties with Turkey,
one of the few Muslim countries with which it has relations.
Turkey froze bilateral military ties with France in November after
French lawmakers voted to make it a criminal offense to deny that
Armenians were victims of a genocide.
A resolution is pending in the US Congress to recognize the killings
as a genocide, but a vote on the bill has not yet been scheduled amid
intense lobbying against it from the White House and Turkey.
The US ambassador to Yerevan, John Evans, was recalled last year
after he used the term genocide in a speech to Armenian Americans.