Armenians around the world commemorate 106th anniversary of Genocide

The 1915 Genocide committed against the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire was the 20th century's greatest atrocious crime against humanity. The Armenians around the world are marking the 106th anniversary of the tragic events today.

Unlike last April 24, there will be no restrictions this year. The Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Park will be open to all visitors. Memorial Trilogy is the slogan of this year's commemoration events, which opened at 11:00 pm local time on Friday, with the National Philharmonic Orchestra playing  Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi. Also, Mozart's Requiem was performed at midnight at the Komitas Chamber Music Hall (which hosted the Armenian State Chamber Orchestra and Hover Chamber Choir). At 7:15 pm local time on Saturday, the Armenian State Symphonic Orchestra, the Armenian State Chamber Choir and the Yerevan State Chamber Choir will perform Tigran Mansuryan's Requiem at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex (conductor: Robert Mlkeyan). The cultural event, organized under the patronage of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, is expected to attract delegations of diplomats.

The World War I-era massacres against the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire are traditionally referred to as the Armenian Genocide. The pogroms were perpetrated by the Young Turks' government in different epochs of the Ottoman Empire. The first international reaction to the events was given by France, Russia and the United Kingdom, which adopted a joint statement on May 24 1915, characterizing the violence against the Armenian people as a "crime against humanity and civilization" (and highlighting the Turkish government's responsibility for the atrocities committed).

The Young Turks' government adopted Pan-Turkism as a state policy in the World War I period in an effort to preserve the reminiscent of the Ottoman Empire. The program was aimed at creating a big Turkish Empire with borders extending to China (encompassing the Caucasus and all the Turkic-speaking peoples in Middle Asia), and assimilating all the ethnic minorities. The Armenian population, which surpassed over 2 million in the pre-war period, was perceived to be the main obstacle to the realization of the expansionist goals. Around 1.5 million Armenians were brutally killed in the period spanning from 1915 to 1923; lots of others were either forced to convert to Islam or settled in different other countries.

The term "genocide" was coined in 1944 by Professor Raphael Lemkin, a Poland-based lawyer of Jewish descent, whose family fell victim to the Holocaust. The term was later incorporated into the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to apply to killings or other crimes committed with a special intent to destroy, in whole or in part, members of an ethnic, racial or religious group.  

The fact of the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman government has been documented, recognized, and affirmed through eyewitness accounts, laws, resolutions, and statements by many states and international organizations. The complete catalogue of all documents categorizing the 1915-23 widespread massacre of the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire as a premeditated and thoroughly executed act of Genocide, is extensive.

A concise list of the countries, organizations, local governments that have recognized and condemned the atrocities is available on the Foreign Ministry's website