A day of global remembrance
On the 24th April, Armenians across the world commemorate the 1.5 million martyrs of the Armenian Genocide- a campaign of extermination carried out by the Ottoman Empire, beginning in 1915. In Yerevan, thousands gathered at the Armenian Genocide Memorial, while the traditional torchlight procession illuminated the streets the night before.
The beginning of the atrocity
The genocide began with the arrest of hundreds of Armenian intellectuals in Constantinople—writers, doctors, MPs, and artists. Though framed as wartime relocations, these deportations were in reality death marches: there was no shelter, no support, only systematic violence, starvation, and execution.
The Young Turk government had laid the groundwork in 1911, during a secret meeting in Salonika. It followed earlier massacres, including the 1909 slaughter of 30,000 Armenians in Adana under Sultan Abdul Hamid. Historians point out that three Turkish regimes—Hamidian, Young Turk, and Kemalist—despite their differences, shared a united goal: the destruction of the Armenian people.
First international use of “crimes against humanity”
On 24 May 1915, the Allied powers- Britain, France, and Russia- issued a joint declaration condemning the ongoing atrocities. For the first time, the term “crimes against humanity” was used in an international context. Lawyer Raphael Lemkin would later study the Armenian case when he coined the term genocide.
By the end, 1.5 million Armenians had been killed. The ringleaders fled to Germany, escaping legal punishment, but the legacy of their crime remains a stain on modern history.
Denial continues to this day
More than a century later, the Turkish government continues to deny the genocide. This ongoing refusal to acknowledge historical truth prevents reconciliation and is widely viewed as a form of continued harm against the victims and their descendants.
A commitment to truth and justice
As enshrined in Article 11 of Armenia’s Declaration of Independence (1990), the country remains committed to the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide in both the former Ottoman Empire and Western Armenia.
As the world marks 110 years since this atrocity, one message is clear: genocide denied is genocide continued.
