CRI听力:Armenian Communities Mark Centenary of 1915 Genocide

Reporter:

In Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, Turkish flags were burned by protesters in a torchlight procession.

Thousands of local people took to the streets, holding candles and torches to commemorate the centennial of mass killings of ethnic Armenians by Ottoman Turks.

They demanded Turkey to admit to atrocities.

"Today we have all gathered here to demand from Turks to recognize genocide because if they do not do it, it means that they are continuing wrongdoings."

An estimated 1.5 million Armenians in Ottoman Turkey were persecuted and killed between 1915 and 1923.

The event is widely viewed by genocide scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century, but Turkey has rejected the allegations.

In Paris, lights went out on the Eiffel Tower in memory of the Armenian victims in the massacre one hundred years ago.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls says refusing to recognize the event as genocide is also a crime.

"Armenians were decimated, they were victims of mass crime. And the first moral requirement is to face it and, as you said, call it by its name. That crime, yes, it was a genocide. France recognized it."

Lasaly Tchakanyam is a member of the sizeable Armenian community in France.

She says she is deeply moved by the government's recognition of the genocide.

"I was really touched by the speeches because France was always supporting us in our cause, by the recognition of the genocide in 2001. It is true that we are proud to be Armenians of France today."

In the United States, thousands of people marched through New York and Los Angeles to pay tribute to the Armenian victims.

Raffi Asatoorian from the Armenian National Committee of America says the march sends out a strong message.

"The message here is more as Armenian Americans here in the United States is to really ask for recognition from Turkey to take a moral stand against these types of atrocities going forward. That's why we are here, not only to bring voice to what occurred to the Armenians but also to prevent these types of atrocities from occurring going forward."

Meanwhile in Jordan, local residents gathered at an Armenian Orthodox school to watch a theater performance.

Hagop Hagopian from the local Armenian club says the performance reminds the audience to never forget the ordeal of the victims.

"We don't want to forget, and we don't want anybody to forget, the crime that happened during the Ottoman era."

More than 20 countries have officially recognized the facts of the Armenian Genocide.

Every year on April 24, Armenians around the world commemorate the day in 1915 when some 250 Armenian intellectuals were rounded up.

The event is regarded as the first step of the massacre.

For CRI, I'm Luo Wen.