On an ashen gray day in the capital, Yerevan, punctuated by driving rain, Armenian officials and dignitaries gathered at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009d the country\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s main monument to the roughly 1.5 million people killed \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009d where they were joined by international delegations that included President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and President Fran\u0569\u0083\u0539\u00abois Hollande of France.<\/p>\n
Mr. Sargsyan, in his opening remarks, described the killing of Armenians as \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093unprecedented in terms of volume and ramifications\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d at that point in history.<\/p>\n
\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093The western part of the Armenian people, who for millenniums had lived in their homeland, in the cradle of their civilization, were displaced and annihilated under a state-devised plan,\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d Mr. Sargsyan said, \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093with direct participation of the army, police, other state institutions, and gangs comprising criminals released from the prisons specifically for this purpose.\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d<\/p>\n
\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093Around 1.5 million human beings were slaughtered merely for being Armenian,\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d he said.<\/p>\n
Turkey, a NATO ally, still fiercely denies<\/a> that the killings and forced exiles that began in 1915 and created what is now one of the world\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s largest diasporas amounted to genocide. It is a position so vital to Turkey that it is widely understood that countries adopting that term risk putting their relations with the country in jeopardy. Some world leaders, including President Obama, pointedly declined to use the word genocide<\/a> in expressing their condolences.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In appointing the secretary of the Treasury, Jacob J. Lew, to lead the American delegation to Yerevan, the White House referred to the ceremony as the \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093Centennial Commemoration of the Events of 1915\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009d euphemistic enough perhaps to satisfy President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, but a grave disappointment to Armenians who had hoped Mr. Obama would make good on his promise as a presidential candidate to recognize the killings as genocide.<\/p>\n In a statement on Friday, Mr. Obama called the killings<\/a> of Armenians \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093the first mass atrocity of the 20th century,\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d adding that \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093the Armenian people of the Ottoman Empire were deported, massacred and marched to their deaths.\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d<\/p>\n He also suggested that the absence of the word genocide in his statement was an official position, but not a reflection of his own personal beliefs. \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and my view has not changed,\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d Mr. Obama said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n By now, with the facts well established, it is largely a semantic debate that Turkey seems to be losing. Pope Francis, for instance, this year called the killings of Armenians the \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093first genocide of the 20th century.\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d Even some people in Turkey have called for recognition and reconciliation given the increasingly settled world opinion.<\/p>\n Still, in an apparent bid to distract from the centennial events in Yerevan and around the world, Turkey brought forward by one day an annual commemoration of the Battle of Gallipoli in World War I<\/a>, normally held on April 25. The battle is of particular significance to Australia and New Zealand, which lost many soldiers there.<\/p>\n The dueling commemorations presented a challenge for some countries with close ties to Turkey and Armenia, particularly Russia, which decided to send Mr. Putin to Yerevan and Sergei Naryshkin, the speaker of the lower house of Parliament, to Turkey.<\/p>\n Russia is Armenia\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s closest ally, providing crucial economic and military support, including border security. At the same time, Russia is relying on Turkey for the construction of a major new natural gas<\/a> pipeline that would potentially allow Gazprom, the state-controlled energy giant, to bypass Ukraine in supplying gas to customers in Europe.<\/p>\n Despite Turkey\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s strategic importance, Mr. Putin\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s decision to go to Yerevan was a signal to many that ultimately Russia\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s allegiances lie with Armenia, which, like Russia, is a predominantly Orthodox Christian nation.<\/p>\n \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093We sincerely sympathize with the Armenian people who suffered one of the most awful tragedies in the history of mankind,\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d Mr. Putin said in his speech.<\/p>\n Beyond the fight over the term genocide, the enmity between Turkey and Armenia still weighs heavily in both countries and is a major factor in regional politics.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2015\/04\/25\/world\/25Armenia2-web\/25Armenia2-web-articleLarge.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFrom the Archives:<\/h2>\n<\/figcaption>
From The Archive |<\/span> Aug. 18, 1915<\/span><\/h6>\n<\/div>\n
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