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Armenian Genocide Commemorated In Istanbul

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  • Armenian Genocide Commemorated In Istanbul

    ARMENIAN GENOCIDE COMMEMORATED IN ISTANBUL

    Agence France Presse
    April 24, 2013 Wednesday 2:54 PM GMT

    Dozens of people gathered in Istanbul to commemorate the 1915 Armenian
    genocide Wednesday, in what they saw as a sign of an increasingly
    conciliatory stance by the government.

    For the first time, Armenian diaspora groups from Europe also attended
    the ceremony at the invitation of the Turkish government.

    "Ten years ago, such an event was impossible in Turkey," said Benjamin
    Abtan, president of the European Grassroots Anti-racist Movement
    (EGAM).

    "This shows attitudes are changing here," he said at the event marking
    Armenian genocide remembrance day.

    The crowd mostly made up of Turkish-Armenians congregated in front
    of the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum, which was once a prison where
    Armenians were held before deportation during World War I.

    Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were systematically
    killed between 1915 and 1917 as the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor
    of modern Turkey, was falling apart.

    Turkey says 500,000 died of fighting and starvation during World War
    I and categorically rejects the term genocide.

    Some of the activists carried the portraits of victims of genocide
    and unfurled banners: "The Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum was a
    prison in 1915" and "Armenian intellectuals were imprisoned here
    before deportation."

    pa-fo/jmm

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