Calling the Armenian genocide "The Sin of Ottoman Empire", the Armenian ambassador to India again raised the voice for the millions of people who were killed around a century ago. Armenian ambassador Yuri Babakhanian, while speaking at a book launch event on Sunday, April 24, reiterated his demand to sue the country responsible for the mass killing of Armenians in 1915. He said the victims are still waiting for justice. Notably, the strong condemnation from Babakhanian came when he was speaking at the book launch of the "Armenian Genocide, The Sin of Ottoman Empire".

The Armenian genocide was considered the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It was estimated that more than 1.5 million Armenians were killed during the First World War.
"…More than a century has passed since the Armenian Genocide, the deprivation of the Armenian people of their homeland and property. However, the entire Armenian people are still waiting for justice because the crime of genocide cannot have a statute of limitations," he said. According to Yuri Babakhanian, if the first genocide of the 20th century had been recognized and condemned by the then world leaders, there would have been no subsequent genocide at all. 

Babakhanian called the genocide– "a terrible tragedy", and added about half of the Armenians lost their homeland and their family members during the mass killings. "It is also the history of survival and struggle," he said and added, "It was a fight in the name of life, struggle to preserve identity, struggle not to lose the memory of the nation, and the right and the opportunity to pass it on to the next generations." He appealed to the other countries to condemn the genocide and urged the world leaders to get united in the matter in order to prevent such incidents in the future. As of now, around 33 countries including, the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, Uruguay and Brazil, formally recognized the Armenian Genocide. 

Interestingly, Russia, which has escalated the brutal war against its neighbouring country, Ukraine, also recognised the incident as "genocide".On the other hand, Turkey acknowledges that many died in that period, but it says that the death toll is inflated. It considers the deaths resulting from civil unrest. According to the Turkish government, Muslim Turks were also killed. On Sunday, US President Joe Biden also condemned the incident and used the anniversary to appeal to the leaders to lay down a set of principles for foreign policy against genocide. In a reply, Turkey's Foreign Ministry issued a counter-statement saying, “Statements that are incompatible with historical facts and international law regarding the events of 1915 are not valid."