1965 Yerevan demonstrations | |||
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![]() Medal created in Soviet Armenia. Obverse: "Eternal Memory to the Martyrs of the Holocaust" in Armenian. Dually dated 1915 and 1965. View of the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Tsitsernakaberd. Reverse: Flame in urn, 1915/1965 to upper left | |||
Date | 24 April 1965 | ||
Location | |||
Goals | Commemoration and recognition of the Armenian genocide Calls for annexation of Western Armenia [1] | ||
Resulted in | Construction of Tsitsernakaberd | ||
Parties | |||
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Lead figures | |||
No leadership | |||
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The 1965 Yerevan demonstrations took place in Yerevan, Armenia on 24 April 1965, on the 50th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. It is said that this event constitutes the first step in the struggle for the recognition of the Armenian genocide of 1915. [2]
On 24 April 1965, for the first time for any such demonstration in the entire Soviet Union, [3] 100,000 [4] [5] protesters held a 24-hour demonstration in front of the Opera House on the 50th anniversary of the commencement of the Armenian genocide, and demanded that the Soviet Union government officially recognize the Armenian genocide committed by the Young Turks in the Ottoman Empire, and build a memorial in Armenia's capital city of Yerevan to perpetuate the memory of the victims of the Armenian genocide.
The posters said "Just solution to the Armenian question" and other nationalistic slogans concerning Western Armenia, Karabakh and Nakhichevan.
To the shouts of "our land, our lands," the major demonstration marked a substantial awakening of Armenian consciousness in Soviet Armenia. Taking into account the demonstrators' demands, the Kremlin commissioned a memorial for the genocide and the 1.5 million Armenians who perished. The memorial, located on Tsitsernakaberd hill, was completed in 1967, just in time for the 53rd anniversary of the beginning of the genocide. The building of this memorial to the fallen of the genocide was the first step in honoring important events and figures in Armenia's long history. Monuments honoring the Armenian victories in Sardarapat and Bash Abaran against the Ottoman Turks in 1918, among others, were later built one after the other.
Following the example of this demonstration [ citation needed ], similar protests were made throughout the world by the Armenian diaspora. Since the day of the protests, Armenians (and people from many of the former republics of the Soviet Union and all over the world as well) visit the memorial and make protests around the world to gain acceptance of the Armenian genocide by Turkey and to honor the millions of Armenian deaths during this sad period of Armenian history.
Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country, as its primate city. It has been the capital since 1918, the fourteenth in the history of Armenia and the seventh located in or around the Ararat Plain. The city also serves as the seat of the Araratian Pontifical Diocese, which is the largest diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church and one of the oldest dioceses in the world.
The history of Armenia covers the topics related to the history of the Republic of Armenia, as well as the Armenian people, the Armenian language, and the regions of Eurasia historically and geographically considered Armenian.
The Armenian diaspora refers to the communities of Armenians outside Armenia and other locations where Armenians are considered an indigenous population. Since antiquity, Armenians have established communities in many regions throughout the world. However, the modern Armenian diaspora was largely formed as a result of World War I, when the genocide which was committed by the Ottoman Empire forced Armenians who were living in their homeland to flee from it or risk being killed. Another wave of emigration started during the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Vahakn Norair Dadrian was an Armenian-American sociologist and historian, born in Turkey, professor of sociology, historian, and an expert on the Armenian genocide.
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Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day or Armenian Genocide Memorial Day is a public holiday in Armenia and is observed by the Armenian diaspora on 24 April. It is held annually to commemorate the victims of the Armenian genocide of 1915. It was a series of massacres and starvation of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottomans. In Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, hundreds of thousands of people walk to the Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Memorial to lay flowers at the eternal flame. This day is also called "Armenian Martyrs Day".
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Operation Nemesis was a program to assassinate both Ottoman perpetrators of the Armenian genocide and officials of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic most responsible for the massacre of Armenians during the September Days of 1918 in Baku. Masterminded by Shahan Natalie, Armen Garo, and Aaron Sachaklian, it was named after the Greek goddess of divine retribution, Nemesis.
The Armenian Genocide Memorial complex is Armenia's official memorial dedicated to the victims of the Armenian genocide, built in 1967 on the hill of Tsitsernakaberd in Yerevan. Every year on 24 April, the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, thousands of Armenians gather at the memorial to commemorate the victims of the genocide. The people who gather in Tsiternakaberd lay fresh flowers out of respect for all the people who died in the Armenian genocide. Over the years, from around the world, a wide range of politicians, artists, musicians, athletes, and religious figures have visited the memorial.
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The Karabakh movement, also known as the Artsakh movement, was a national mass movement in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh from 1988 to 1991 that advocated for the transfer of the mainly Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of neighboring Azerbaijan to the jurisdiction of Armenia.
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