Remembrance Day of Genocide Victims in Armenia
Description:
The Armenian Genocide was organized by the Turkish rulers with the support of Imperial Germany and with the connivance of Western countries.
Professing the ideas of regressive pan-Turkism and pan-Islamism, the Turkish authorities sought not only to preserve the Ottoman Empire and forcibly destroy or assimilate the subject population, but also to create a pan-Turan empire, which would include all Muslims.
Between 1894 and 1896, more than 300,000 Armenians were massacred in Turkey. In 1909, 30,000 Armenians were killed in and around Adana.
On April 24, 1915, the first group of Armenian intellectuals was arrested. Numerous arrests followed. In a short period, the number of people arrested reached about 800 people, including writers, scientists, art historians, teachers, actors, doctors, priests, public figures, as well as Armenian deputies of the Turkish Majlis (parliament). They were sent to Anatolia and brutally killed.
As a result of the Genocide of 1915, about 1.5 million Armenians were killed, and the entire Armenian population of Western Armenia was deported from their lands.
April 24 is the day of memory of innocent victims and is celebrated every year in Armenia and in the diaspora.
In 1965, the construction of a memorial to the innocent victims began on the hill of Tsitsernakaberd. The complex was completed in 1967. It became a sacred place for Armenians.
The 44-meter stele symbolizes the rebirth of the Armenian people. The 12 plates, symbolizing the 12 lost provinces that are now part of Turkey, form a cone in the center of which, at a depth of 1.5 meters, an eternal flame burns. Next to the stele is a hundred-meter wall with the names of the towns and villages in which the massacre took place.
In 1995, a genocide museum (architects Kalashyan and Mkrtchyan) was opened at the other end of the park, dedicated to these horrific events. The museum features some of the photographs taken by German photographers (including Armin Wegner) and their publications. Near the museum is an alley where foreign statesmen plant trees in memory of the victims of the genocide.
Every year on April 24, the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, hundreds of thousands of people climb the hill to the memorial complex and lay flowers (usually carnations and tulips) to the eternal flame. Thanks to the efforts of the Armenian diaspora, many monuments to the victims of the genocide have been built around the world.