Armenian President to lay wreath at Woodrow Wilson tomb

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.

Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856 – February 3, 1924) was the 28th President of the United States. He was an advocate for an independent Armenia which included three Armenian provinces of the Ottoman Empire (Erzerum, Bitlis, Van, and north to the Black Sea port of Trabzon) in the aftermath of World War I. The Treaty of Sevres, which included President Wilson’s boundary configuration of Armenia, was signed but not ratified by the Ottoman Empire.