Orthodox patriarch announces Armenian genocide centennial commemoration ‎

Armenian Orthodox Patriarch Karekin II issued a solemn encyclical letter to launch a year of official events to remember the Armenian Genocide.   The massacre of 1.5 million Armenians took place in the twilight years of the Ottoman Empire, first under Sultan Abdul Hamid II, then under the 'Young Turks' government, and finally under Kemal Ataturk, the father of the modern Turkish Republic.  Armenians were targeted because they were Christian, educated and middle-class.  The Paris Conference of 1920 recognized the Armenian Genocide. Since then, at least 20 countries have recognized it, except Turkey, which continues to claim that the massacres were the consequence of the fight against pro-independence groups.  In his letter, Patriarch Karekin II announced that he will lead a liturgy on 23 April 23 2015 to proclaim saints all the victims of the genocide, killed "for faith and for Homeland" and that he will make 24 April a Day of Remembrance for all the "holy martyrs of genocide".  (Source: Asianews)