Agence France Presse
April 23, 2010 Friday 5:15 PM GMT
Thousands march in Armenia on eve of massacres anniversary
YEREVAN, April 23 2010
Thousands marched in the Armenian capital Friday on the eve of the
95th anniversary of Ottoman-era mass killings of Armenians and amid
fresh tensions with Turkey over stalled peace efforts.
The march came a day after Armenia announced it was halting
ratification of a historic reconciliation accord with Turkey that
would have normalised ties after decades of hostility over the
massacres.
More than 5,000 marchers carried torches and candles through the
streets of Yerevan on an annual march to a hilltop memorial to the
massacres, which Armenians insist constituted genocide.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were systematically
killed between 1915 and 1917 as the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of
modern Turkey, was falling apart.
The events are marked every year on April 24, when Ottoman authorities
rounded up and arrested more than 200 Armenian intellectuals and
community leaders in Constantinople in 1915.
Turkey categorically rejects the genocide label and says between
300,000 and 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil
strife when Armenians took up arms in eastern Anatolia and sided with
invading Russian troops.
Chanting "Recognise!" the marchers carried Armenian flags and the
flags of countries whose governments or parliaments have recognised
the killings as genocide, including Canada, France, Poland and
Switzerland.
Thousands more, including Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian, are to
attend official ceremonies marking the anniversary on Saturday.
Many at the march said they supported Armenia’s decision to freeze
ratification of the deal with Turkey, which Yerevan blamed on Turkish
stalling and Ankara’s linking of the agreement with progress in ending
Armenia’s dispute with Turkish ally Azerbaijan over the breakaway
Nagorny Karabakh region.
"It was the right decision. Armenia has not stopped this process,
Turkey has stopped it by putting preconditions on it," said
21-year-old student Hasmik Tigranian.
Armenia and Turkey signed a landmark deal in October to establish
diplomatic ties and reopen their border but ratification of the
agreement stalled amid mutual accusations that the other side was not
committed to reconciliation.
Analysts said Armenia’s decision to halt ratification left almost no
hope of the process quickly moving forward.