Georgia, Lebanon host Genocide commemorating marches

April 24, 2016 - 12:15 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Members of Zori Zoryan youth union of Javakhk (Javakheti), Georgia, staged a torchlight procession in Akhalkalaki to commemorate the 101st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

The participants carried protest banners, demanding that Georgia and the whole world recognize the mass killings of Armenians as genocide to prevent the recurrence of such crimes against humanity.

Another torchlight march was organized in Akhaltsikhe on Saturday, April 23, with thousands of locals carrying Armenian tricolors as they processed towards the Armenian church in Marda district.

Also commemorating the Genocide was Lebanon which hosted a massive march on Sunday, Yerkir.am says.

Akhaltskha.net/. ՋԱՀԵՐԹ – 2016՝ ԱԽԱԼՔԱԼԱՔՈՒՄ

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.