April 24: Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day

CAIRO – 24 April 2022: The Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day or Genocide Remembrance Day that falls on April 24 is a public holiday in Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

On this day, the Armenians and the Armenian diaspora remember the victims of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, where 1.5 million Armenians were massacared, starved, or forcibly displaced by the Ottoman government.

In Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, hundreds of thousands of people march to the Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Memorial to lay flowers on the eternal flame.

The origin of the memory goes back to an Ottoman decision to arrest and execute a group of Armenian intellectuals and notables in Istanbul on April 24, 1915.

This day was first chosen by the Armenians of Lebanon in 1965, on the 50th anniversary of the notorious Ottoman decision, to immortalize the memory of the Armenian genocide victims. The day was announced an official holiday by the Soviet Republic of Armenia in 1988.

On April 24 every year, demonstrations and gatherings take place in the areas of Armenian presence around the world to remember the victims of the massacres. The Assyrians/Syriacs/Chaldeans also remember on this day their victims during the Seyfo massacres.

On April 9, 1975, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Joint Resolution 148 designating April 24 as the National Day of Remembrance of Cruelty to Man.

The resolution commemorated the genocide victims, especially those of Armenian descent who died during the 1915 genocide. However, the resolution failed to pass in the US Senate Judiciary Committee due to President Gerald Ford's strong opposition to what he saw as a threat to the country's strategic alliance with Turkey.

In 1997 the California State Assembly declared April 24 to be a day of remembrance for the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923, the victims of the 1988 Sumgait Massacre and the Baku Massacre of 1988.

In 2007, Argentina passed National Law No. 26199, which designated April 24 as the "Day of Action for Tolerance and Respect among Peoples", whereby Argentinian Armenians are exempted from work.

In 2015, the Canadian House of Commons unanimously passed the M-587 proposal, put forward by Brad Pot, marking April as the month of genocide remembrance, condemnation and prevention, and designating April 24 as the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.

In 2019, France marked its first national memory of the Armenian Genocide, with French President Emmanuel Macron declaring April 24 a National Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide, fulfilling an election campaign pledge.

In 2021, US President Joe Biden issued a statement commemorating "the lives of all who died in the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman era," fulfilling his campaign pledge.