Genocide 99th anniversary commemoration continues worldwide

April 26, 2014 - 14:50 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Turkey continues to be commemorated worldwide, with the Romania, Denmark, Norway and Geneva hosting church and wreath-laying ceremonies.

Lithuania hosted a number of commemorative events including presentation of Lithuanian edition of Franz Werfe’s novel “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh.”

The Armenian Catholic Church in Rome served a morning mass for Genocide victims.

On April 24, Pier Ferdinando Casini, the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Commission of the Senate of Italy issued an address expressing solidarity with Armenian people on the tragic day.

Churches of Cairo hosted morning liturgies, with the documentary “Orphans of the Genocide” screened in the Egyptian capital.

The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres and deportations, involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, Italy, 45 U.S. states, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Canada, Poland, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Venezuela, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.