The date of April 24th, the same as that observed in Armenia and many other countries, corresponds to the day when Armenian intellectuals were rounded up and assassinated in Constantinople by the Ottoman authorities.
In February 2019, President Emmanuel Macron announced that April 24th would become a National Day of Remembrance for the Armenian Genocide, which France officially recognized on January 29, 2001. This is the first time since then that he is participating in an official commemoration of this day. Yesterday, in a solemn declaration, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, formally recognized the Armenian Genocide for the first time.
According to estimates, between 1.2 million and 1.5 million Armenians were killed during World War I by the troops of the Ottoman Empire, then allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary. The Armenian Genocide is vigorously disputed by Turkey.
- Recently, the writer Taner Akçam, who lives in the United States, published in a book original historical documents, both known and unknown, referring to the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1922.
Dispatches from Talaat Pasha, Minister of the Interior of the Ottoman Empire and later leader of the Young Turks, addressed to provincial governors, ordering them to kill Armenians ruthlessly: “Any excess of cruelty will not be considered a crime.” Followed by repeated recommendations: “There is no room for qualms of conscience, and no distinction is made between men, women, and children, regardless of the cruelty of the methods of destruction.”
A lucid and rational design emerges, determined down to the smallest details, dismissing denial and refutations.
