The Armenian Apostolic Church canonized all the victims of the Armenian genocide, as the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the massacre is being marked. "Millions of our people were uprooted and massacred in a premeditated manner, passed through fire and sword, tasted the bitter fruits of torture and sorrow," yesterday said Armenian Church Patriarch Karekin II in Etchmiadzin, where the collective canonization was held.

Armenian media usually put the victim toll of the Ottoman-led genocide at 1.5 million. The massacres began on 24th April 1915 as more than 200 Armenian intellectuals and leaders were arrested by Ottoman authorities. What followed was an operation of systematic elimination of the Armenians by the Ottoman forces, in collaboration with Turkish and Kurdish irregulars. The result was most of Armenians living in Western Armenia -the Armenian lands within the Ottoman Empire- being killed or sent into exile.

Eastern Armenia -the Armenian territory under Russian control- escaped that fate. "The committer of genocide", Karekin II said, "assumed that the Armenian was being lost forever in the gales of history," but "our people have re-created their spiritual and national life in all corners of the world, found rebirth in Eastern Armenia, under the canopy of their state which has risen from the ashes." Karekin II refers to the Republic of Armenia, which achieved independence in 1991.

Pan-Armenian Declaration calls for "stronger homeland," Karabakh independence

Linked to those words, the State Commission on the Events of the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide adopted in January a Pan-Armenian Declaration which called for the recognition of the 1915 massacres as genocide by all world countries, especially by Turkey, which continues to refuse to admit that the Ottoman Empire committed genocide against the Armenians, although it recognizes that massacres indeed were committed.

The Pan-Armenian Declaration also called upon "the coming generations of Armenians" to "protect their sacred native heritage" and to fight for "a stronger homeland, free and democratic Republic of Armenia" and an "independent Artsakh." Artsakh is the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-majority republic that declared itself independent from Azerbaijan in 1991 although it has never been recognized as such by any other state in the world.

Ottoman war allies talk of "genocide"

Tyrkish diplomacy suffered this week a symbolic defeat for the Turkish diplomacy as two Ottoman Empire allies during the First World War (Germany and Austria) openly referred to the 1915 massacres by the name of "genocide." President of Austrian Parliament Doris Bures and leaders of all six parliamentary groups of the Austrian chamber said on Wednesday that those historical events constituted "genocide." Whereas in Germany, President Joachim Gauck also said that the killings were "planned and systematic," thus being "an example of genocide." The German Parliament could pass a resolution recognizing the massacres as a genocide later this year.

(Image: Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, Armenia / photo by Hanay.)

Further information:

• Nationalia: Turkey blamed for using WWI commemoration to overshadow Armenian genocide anniversary