SLIDESHOW: Armenians raise flag in Lowell as Biden recognizes genocide on Remembrance Day

Zhanna Nahapetian 2021
Lowell Sun, MA

Claire Karibian of Salem, N.H., during the National Anthem, at the annual flag-raising and remembrance of victims of the Armenian Genocide, at Lowell City Hall. JULIA MALAKIE/LOWELLSUN

By Julia Malakie | [email protected] | Lowell Sun
at 2:46 p.m.


Local residents of Armenian heritage held a flag-raising at the Armenian Genocide Memorial outside Lowell City Hall Saturday morning, as President Joe Biden became the first American president to overlook geopolitical concerns and formally recognize the killing of nearly 2 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire — now Turkey — starting in 1915, as a genocide.

Thousands of Merrimack Valley residents are descended from refugees who fled the killing and forced religious conversion. To read more on Biden’s declaration and location reaction, click here.