Thousands gather in Times Square to commemorate Genocide anniv.

April 25, 2016 - 10:22 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Thousands gathered in Times Square on Sunday, April 24 to commemorate the 101st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide as supporters, many draped in the Armenian flag, called for more official recognition of the Genocide, AM New York reports.

Many people wore T-shirts commemorating the Genocide and several people held signs, like “End Denial.”

The Genocide claimed the lives of 1.5 million Armenians from 1915 to 1923, according to the Armenian Assembly of America.

“It’s more important for [my kids] to continue this, just to be part of this,” said Bergen County, N.J., resident Violette Dabaghian, 50. “I tell it to them all the time, you just can’t forget it. It happened.”

Dabaghian said her grandmother was a survivor of the Genocide, allowed to live because her great-grandfather was a doctor and was forced to treat soldiers.

Sen. Charles Schumer called it “an outrage” that the Genocide wasn’t recognized as it should be.

“We owe it to those who cannot speak for themselves,” Schumer said, speaking to the crowd. “Every time Genocide occurs we say never again and we must. The Statue of Liberty stands for something, and one of the things it stands for is remembering the genocide done to the Armenian people.”

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.