National Remembrance Day in Gyumri, Armenia: Recognizing the Genocide

April 24th is such an important day in Armenia as well as throughout the Armenian diaspora worldwide. A national holiday in Armenia, it is used to commemorate the nearly 1.5 million Armenians who were killed by the Ottoman Turks near the end of World War 1. The why and the how will not be discussed here but as an American living here for over a year I can tell you the pain is still felt here despite it occurring over a 102 years ago.   I think that despite how much time has passed the healing and reconciliation hasn’t happened yet due to unlike other genocides that occurred in the 20th century, they were at least fully recognized as such. Until such recognition and acknowledgement takes place I don’t see how the atrocities that took place will ever bring closure to Armenians.

Last year I attended the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, the capital, with my host family and chose not to attend again this year because the amount of traffic is unprecedented. Tens of thousands of people come here to pay their respects and to leave flowers for the memories of their family members who were killed.  Check out my blog on the Armenian Genocide Memorial for pictures and that experience that I wrote last year.

This year I decided to stay in my site, Gyumri, Armenia’s second largest city, and see how they commemorate on a local level. It turns out that they did a torchlight procession from the north end of town to the center. It began at the Saint Jacob Apostolic Church at 7pm and comprised mostly of youth carrying various flags and a gigantic Armenian flag. There must have been at least 100 youth involved and by the time they came to my neighborhood they were cheering and chanting for recognition and justice. In the front of the crowds was a truck with loud speakers playing music and the youth holding flags and signs. In the middle were youth carrying an Armenian flag at least 20 meters long. The rear of the crowd was filled with the youth and their with makeshift torches. The police were also there to offer them an escort. It was about a 2 kilometers walk and it ended at a local park where a priest gave a nice speech in front of an elegant statue surrounded by flowers.

Armenians have a saying over here “tsavaktsoom em”, or I share your pain. It’s the most compassionate and thoughtful thing to say if you ever meet an Armenian when talking about their genocide. In the end, they just want their culture, families, history, identity, and suffering to not be forgotten.