10,000 march in Armenian capital to commemorate killings

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — About 10,000 people held a torchlight parade in Armenia’s capital Friday to commemorate the estimated 1.5 million Armenians killed in Ottoman Turkey more than a century ago.

The evening march from a central square to a sprawling memorial complex began with activists burning a Turkish flag. Historians estimate that, in the last days of the Ottoman Empire, up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks in what is widely regarded as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Armenians have long pushed for the deaths to be recognized as genocide.

While Turkey concedes that many died in that era, the country has rejected the term genocide, saying the death toll is inflated and the deaths resulted from civil unrest during the Ottoman Empire’s collapse.

Armenia on Saturday formally observes Genocide Remembrance Day, marking the start of the killings in 1915.