The Armenian Genocide was the attempted annihilation of the Armenian people – physically and culturally – from their ancestral homeland. This brutal murder of the Armenian nation by the Ottoman Turks constitutes the first genocide of the 20th century.
Those who carried out the crime were never held to account and successive Turkish governments deny the Armenian Genocide, which began on April 24, 1915.
The failure of the international community to respond decisively to this epic tragedy encourages other regimes to conduct similar murderous campaigns, and it was a precursor to the Holocaust. We have witnessed the ongoing legacy of the Genocide in Artsakh in recent months, where Azerbaijan is carrying out a policy of ethnic cleansing and cultural erasure.
Prevention and punishment for the crime of genocide remains a challenge for all people who believe in a world based on human rights and justice. Therefore, we applaud President Biden for recognizing the Armenian Genocide in his statement to the community on April 24.
For the White House statement please click here.
Our Executive Director Jason Sohigian was interviewed by PRI's The World, where he discussed the Genocide and its relevance to Armenia and Artsakh (click the play button below to hear the interview).
