100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
The official logo for the genocide centennial was a Forget-me-not flower
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| Date | April 24, 2015 |
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| Location | Armenia and Armenian diaspora |
| Also known as | Centennial of the Armenian Genocide |
| Participants | Armenians worldwide and supporters |
The 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide (Armenian: Հայոց ցեղասպանության 100-րդ տարելից) was commemorated on April 24, 2015.
Every year on April 24 Armenians around the world commemorate the victims of the Armenian Genocide. April 24, 1915, is the day when thousands of the Armenian community leaders of Istanbul were deported and mostly executed.
On April 23, 2011, a state commission coordinating of the events dedicated to the 100th commemoration of the Armenian Genocide was founded by a presidential decree. It is headed by the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute director Hayk Demoyan. The first meeting of the commission was held on May 30, 2011, and chaired by President Serzh Sargsyan.
Shavarsh Kocharyan, the Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister, stated in June 2012 that "the efforts that have been initiated are important not only for our country and the Diaspora, but for the entire world. The unpunished crimes against humanity and their denial create fertile ground for recurrence of similar events." He claimed that "by denying the Genocide, the leadership of modern Turkey resembles the Ottoman Turkish government which perpetrated the Genocide."
On July 5, 2013, during a forum of Armenian lawyers in Yerevan about the anniversary of the genocide organized by the Ministry of Diaspora, Armenia's Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan made a "sensational statement". He stated:
Indeed, the Republic of Armenia should have its lost territories returned and the victims of the Armenian Genocide should receive material compensation. But all these claims must have perfect legal grounds. I strongly believe that the descendants of the genocide must receive material compensation, churches miraculously preserved in Turkey's territory and church lands must be returned to the Armenian Church, and the Republic of Armenia must get back its lost lands.
According to ArmeniaNow news agency "this was seen as the first territorial claim of Armenia to Turkey made on an official level. The prosecutor general is the carrier of the highest legal authority in the country, and his statement is equivalent to an official statement. Although,Giro Manoyan, Director of the International Secretariat of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) Bureau in Yerevan, commented on the development, saying that it was still impossible to say that Armenia had made a formal claim to Turkey."
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Wikipedia