Armenia commemorates victims of Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire

ArmInfo.  Commemorative events are taking place in Armenia on the 111th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. Early in the morning, Armenia's top  leadership, led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, visited the  memorial and paid tribute to the holy martyrs.

Later in the afternoon, Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II will  also visit the memorial.

Early in the morning, citizens have been gathering at the memorial to  pay tribute to the innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide.

In addition, a torchlight procession to the memorial took place on  the evening of April 23. Thousands of citizens participated in the  event, traditionally organized by the youth wing of the Armenian  Revolutionary Federation (ARF Dashnaktsutyun). It should be noted  that on April 24, 1915, in Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman  Empire, the extermination of Armenian subjects began. It began with  the arrests of representatives of the Armenian intelligentsia-writers  and poets, architects and parliamentarians-and then escalated into  the complete extermination of Armenians. As a result of these actions  by the Turkish authorities, more than 1.5 million Armenians were  deported, starved, and tortured to death.

The Armenian Genocide has been recognized by the Council of Europe  (1998, 2001), the European Parliament (1987, 2000, 2002, 2005), the  UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of  Minorities[7], the World Council of Churches, the Parliamentary  Coalition of South American Countries (Mercosur), and the Parliament  of Latin America (2015).

The Armenian Genocide has been recognized and condemned by many  countries and influential international organizations. The first to  officially recognize and condemn the mass killings of Armenians was  the Parliament of Uruguay (1965). The extermination of Armenians has  been officially recognized as genocide (under international law) and  condemned by: Austria (joint statement of the chairmen of  parliamentary factions, 2015), Argentina (2 laws, 5 resolutions;  2004, 2007), Armenia (1964 as part of the USSR, 1988, 1990), Belgium  (1998, 2015), Bulgaria (2007, 2015), Bolivia (2014), Brazil (2015),  Vatican City (2015), Venezuela (2005), Germany (2016), Greece (1996),  Italy (2000, 2019), Canada (1996, 2002, 2004), Cyprus (1975, 1982),  Latvia (2021), Lebanon (1997), Libya (2019); On April 18, 2019, the  Interim Government of Libya adopted a resolution recognizing the  Armenian Genocide. Lithuania (2005), Luxembourg (2015), Netherlands  (2004, 2018), Paraguay (2015), Poland (2005), Portugal (2019), Russia  (1995), Syria (2020), Slovakia (2004), USA (2019, 2021); On April 24,  2021, US President Joe Biden officially recognized the Armenian  Genocide. Uruguay (1965), France (1998, 2000, 2001, 2006), Czech  Republic (2015, 2017, 2020), Chile (2007), Switzerland (2003), Sweden  (2010). Turkey continues its policy of denial of this crime against  humanity.