Tens of thousands marched north of Beirut Friday, April 24, to commemorate the Armenian Genocide centennial, the Daily Star reports.
Carrying Armenian flags and white signs with the picture of a violet forget-me-not flower which was adopted as the symbol of the centennial, the marchers trekked south from the Armenian Apostolic Patriarchate in Antelias to the Burj Hammoud Stadium.
Speaking before the march, head of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I said Armenians do not need condolences from Turkey, but “recognition and justice.”
“We tell the world that we emerged victorious from the genocide because our people lived,” he said.
Prominent members of the Armenian community spoke on the occasion, highlighting the need for all countries of the world to recognize the genocide and pressure Turkey to do the same.
Also, Prime Minister Tammam Salam called the head of the Armenian Apostolic church in Lebanon Friday, expressing sympathy with the world’s Armenians over the tragedy.
“Lebanese people highly appreciate the positive and significant role the Armenian sects are playing at the national level, which aims to boost national harmony and unity,” Salam said, according to a statement released by his office.
The PM added that Lebanon “takes pride in all its components and shares their causes and all the sufferings they have endured throughout history.”
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, the Italian Chamber of Deputies, majority of U.S. states, parliaments of Greece, Cyprus, Argentina, Belgium and Wales, National Council of Switzerland, Chamber of Commons of Canada, Polish Sejm, Vatican, European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.