THOUSANDS MARCH IN HOLLYWOOD

City News Service
April 24, 2007 Tuesday 10:35 PM PST

Thousands of people denouncing the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians
beginning in 1915 marched in Hollywood and rallied at the Turkish
Consulate today, blocking some streets but remaining generally
peaceful, officials said.

One group of protesters marched through Hollywood along Sunset
Boulevard between Western and Normandie avenues around noon, and
another group gathered at the Turkish Consulate at 6300 Wilshire
Blvd. in the Miracle Mile area about 4 p.m.

Both protests were peaceful and no arrests were made, said Officer
Karen Smith of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Police estimated the crowds at about 1,500, but organizers said the
numbers were closer to 7,000 people.

Both rallies lasted about two hours.

Numerous people spoke in front of the consulate, and some tried to
deliver a letter to the staff of the Turkish consulate, calling on
the Turkish government to admit responsibility for the slaughter of
about 1.5 million people, said Ani Gharibyan of the Armenian Youth
Federation.

"No one was there to accept our letters," she said. "They created
some other holiday, something about saving the children, designed to
avoid accepting our letter. They have done this every year."

More Armenians live in the Hollywood and Glendale areas than in
Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.

April 24 is a solemn day for Armenians, marking the 92nd anniversary
of the day orders were given to begin the first genocide of the 20th
Century, Gharibyan said.

"Despite overwhelming evidence, the Republic of Turkey to this day
wages a multimillion-dollar campaign to deny the Armenian Genocide,"
she said.

Some speakers during the rally said the United States and other
countries have not wanted to recognize the genocide because of Turkey’s
geopolitical importance. Many other countries, however, have urged
Turkey to admit the guilt of the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor to
the current Turkish Republic, in the genocide.

In a statement, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said "the people of
Los Angeles stand in solidarity with Armenians around the world
in remembering the 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children
barbarically killed by the Ottoman Empire."

"Almost a century of history has removed the horrors of the genocide
from our immediate collective consciousness," Villaraigosa said. "And
yet as the assassination of Turkish-American journalist Hrant Dink
reminded us in January, the pernicious threat of genocide denial
still openly thrives around the world.

"As mayor of America’s preeminent Armenian community, I urge all
Angelenos to reflect not only on the vast scale and ruthlessness of
the genocide, but on the horror of the global silence under which it
took place. Today, I urge Angelenos to simply never forget."