EuroNews – English
April 24, 2009 Friday

Armenia remembers "genocide" victims

Armenians have been commemorating the mass killings of 1.5 million of
their people by Ottoman Turks during World War One, a crime Armenia
says was genocide.

In a sombre ceremony thousands laid wreaths around a flame at a
memorial near the capital, Yerevan.

In an act of rememberance last night many others took part in a
candle-lt march. Some were also protesting against a new deal between
Turkey and Armenia on a road map to normalise relations after a
century of hostility.

While Ankara accepts many Christian Armenians were killed by Ottoman
Turks, it denies that up to 1.5 million were killed and that it was
genocide. It says many Turks also died in what was part of a wider
conflict.

The EU wants Turkey to resolve the bitter dispute before eventual
membership of the union.

21 countries have recognised the mass killings as genocide.