“Armenia is dying, but it will survive. The little blood that is left is precious blood that will give birth to a heroic generation. A nation that does not want to die does not die.”

Anatole France, French author, 1916

from the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Foundation

From 1915 to 1923, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks.

“The massacres were done by the government of the Young Turks and were later finalized by the Kemalist government. … In February 1915, the military minister Enver Pasha ordered to eliminate the Armenian soldiers serving in the Army. On April 24 and the following days, 800 Armenians were arrested in Constantinople and exiled to the depths of Anatolia. Armenian writers, journalists, doctors, scientists, clergymen, intellectuals including Armenian members of the parliament were among them. A part of them died on the way of the exile, while others died after reaching there. The first international response to the violence resulted in a joint statement by France, Russia and the Great Britain in May 1915, where the Turkish atrocities against the Armenians were defined as a crime against humanity and civilization. According to them, Turkish government was responsible for the implementation of the crime,” according to the Armenian Genocide Museum Institute Foundation.

“Today marks 105 years since the killings by the Ottoman Turks began in the first genocide of the 20th century, the Armenian Genocide. On this Commemoration Day, we remember the 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children who were murdered by the Ottoman Empire. We honor their memory with a pledge to never forget the crime that was committed against them and the Armenian People, and with a commitment to stop all genocides,” stated Rep. Adam Schiff vice chair of the Armenian-American Caucus.

The day of remembrance is today, April 24.