Armenia marks centennial of genocide

Armenia held a commemoration Friday to mark the 100th anniversary of a genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire, in which about 1.5 million Armenians were killed and persecuted.

Mare than 60 foreign delegations, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Francois Hollande, attended the event to pay tribute to innocent victims of the 1915 genocide.

"The main goal of our memorial and responsibility-based policy is to make mechanisms on prevention of annihilation of humanity and all forms of genocide," Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in a speech.

He stressed that Armenia, together with the world's progressive community, are obliged to find solutions to the elimination of xenophobia and ethnic hatred.

The centennial commemoration is a kind of driving force in the struggle against monstrous phenomenons like genocide, he said.

Armenia and Turkey disagree over the Armenian Genocide, in which 1.5 million Armenians in Ottoman Turkey were killed and persecuted in 1915-1923. Turkey has rejected the allegations that it was a bloody massacre.

Now more than 20 countries have officially recognized the facts of the Armenian Genocide. Endi