The Entire Armenian Community Commemorates the 106th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide

The genocide of Armenians carried out by the Ottoman Empire in 1915 was one of the greatest atrocities of the early 20th century. Armenians around the world mark the 106th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Unlike in 2020, there will be no restrictions at the entrance of the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial on April 24 this year. It will be open to all visitors.

As part of the program titled "Trinity of Remembrance," events began on April 23 at 23:00, with a performance of Giuseppe Verdi's "Requiem" at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial. The Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra and the Armenian State Academic Choir participated in the performance. Late at night on April 23 and into the early hours of April 24, the Armenian State Chamber Orchestra and the "Hovhannes" State Chamber Choir presented Mozart's Requiem at the Komitas Chamber Music House. On April 24 at 19:15, Tigran Mansuryan's "Requiem" will be performed by the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, the Armenian State Chamber Choir, and the Yerevan State Chamber Choir at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex, conducted by Robert Mlkeian. Diplomatic delegations are expected to attend this event, which will be held under the patronage of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Delegations from more than ten countries, including France, Russia, Europe, and Latin America, have arrived in Armenia to participate in the commemoration events for the Genocide anniversary.

The massacres of the Armenian population during the years of World War I in the Ottoman Empire are referred to as the Armenian Genocide. These massacres were carried out by the Young Turk government in various regions of the Ottoman Empire. The first international response to these events was the joint statement of France, Russia, and Great Britain on May 24, 1915, in which the violence against the Armenian people was characterized as "a crime against humanity and civilization." The parties held the Turkish government accountable for the crimes committed.

During World War I, the Young Turk government adopted a pan-Turkism policy aimed at preserving remnants of the Ottoman Empire. This policy aimed to create a great Turkish Empire that would stretch to China, incorporating all Turkic peoples of the Caucasus and Central Asia. The program intended to Turkify all national minorities along the way, and Armenians were considered the main obstacle to the realization of this Turkish idea.

Prior to World War I, more than 2 million Armenians lived in the Ottoman Empire. Between 1915 and 1923, around 1.5 million Armenians fell victim to the Turkish onslaught, while the rest were either forcibly converted to Islam or sought refuge in various countries around the world.

The term genocide was introduced in 1944 by Polish-Jewish lawyer and professor Raphael Lemkin, whose family fell victim to the Jewish Holocaust. He aimed to describe and define the systematic policies of murder and violence imposed by the Nazis, as well as the atrocities committed against Armenians in 1915 in the Ottoman Empire. Genocide signifies the organized extermination of any group of people with the fundamental aim of destroying their collective existence. Thus, its execution requires centralized planning and internal mechanisms for implementation, which makes genocide a state crime, as only the state possesses all the resources necessary to implement such a policy.

The first phase of the extermination of the Armenian population began with arrests on April 24, 1915, and the subsequent annihilation of hundreds of Armenian intellectuals. Subsequently, Armenians worldwide began to observe April 24 as the day of remembrance for the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

The second phase of the genocide involved the conscription of approximately 60,000 Armenian men into the Turkish army, who were later disarmed and killed by their Turkish comrades. The third phase of the genocide was marked by the massacre and displacement of women, children, and the elderly into the Syrian desert. During the deportation, hundreds of thousands of people were killed by Turkish soldiers, police, as well as Kurdish and Chechen bandits. Many died from starvation and epidemic diseases. Thousands of women and children suffered violence, and tens of thousands of Armenians were forcibly converted to Islam.

The final stage of the genocide was the absolute denial by the Turkish government of the mass deportations and exterminations committed against the Armenian nation in its own homeland. Despite the ongoing process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Turkey has fought relentlessly against such recognition, employing historical distortions, various propaganda methods, lobbying, and more.

On December 9, 1948, the United Nations adopted the "Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide," which defines genocide as an international crime, obligating signatory states to prevent and punish those who perpetrate genocide.

The fact of the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman government has been substantiated, recognized, and affirmed by eyewitness testimonies, laws, resolutions, and numerous decisions from state and international organizations. A comprehensive array of documents characterizing the mass killings of the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923 as a premeditated and systematically executed genocidal act is monumental.

Below is a brief list of countries, organizations, state and self-governing bodies, and city councils that have recognized the Armenian Genocide, according to the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

• Resolution of the People's Council of the Syrian Arab Republic on the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman State - February 13, 2020
• Senate resolution recognizing and condemning the Armenian Genocide - December 12, 2019
• House of Representatives resolution affirming the U.S. stance on the Armenian Genocide - October 30, 2019
• Assembly resolution on the Armenian Genocide - April 26, 2019
• Call for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Italian House of Deputies - April 10, 2019
• French President Emmanuel Macron's decree recognizing April 24 as the National Day of Remembrance for the Armenian Genocide - April 10, 2019
• Resolution by the Czech Republic's House of Deputies recognizing and condemning the Armenian Genocide - April 26, 2017
• Law criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide adopted by the French Senate - October 14, 2016
• Resolution by the State of Israel's Knesset Education, Culture, and Sports Committee - August 1, 2016
• Resolution by the German Bundestag - June 2, 2016
• Resolution of the Senate of the Republic of Paraguay - October 29, 2015