Cyprus Armenians hold series of events in commemoration of Genocide 95th anniversary

April 24, 2010 - 21:50 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Today, Cyprus hosted a political event to mark 95th anniversary of Armenian Genocide, Editor-in-Chief of Gibrahayer e-magazine Simon Aynejian stated.

As he told PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, President of Cyprus House of Representatives Marios Garoyian, Cyprus Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou and Member of the European Parliament Ioannis Kasoulides were invited to participate.

Cyprus Armenians held series of events in Genocide 95th anniversary commemoration.

In Nicosia, Remembrance Day was started with a memorial liturgy for 1915 Genocide victims.

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.