Armenians are marking the centenary of the massacre of up to 1.5 million of their people allegedly by Ottoman forces, with world leaders holding a minute’s silence in the capital, Yerevan.
Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian and First Lady Rita Sarkisian laid a wreath at a hilltop memorial at the start of a solemn ceremony commemorating the mass killings that began in 1915 during World War I.
Each foreign diplomat held a yellow rose to put into the wreath laid at the foot of a monumental 44-metre needle, symbolising the nation’s rebirth.
French President Francois Hollande and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who are among a handful of world leaders to visit for the anniversary, then joined the ceremony.
Hundreds of thousands of Armenians will later join a procession to the mass killing memorial – Armenia’s most visited landmark – carrying candles and flowers to lay at the eternal flame.
Members of the Armenian diaspora that came into existence as a result of the mass killing that went on until 1917 were also to commemorate the sombre anniversary in cities around the world.
Source: AP
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