YEREVAN. – A visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial on Tsitsernakaberd Hill, in Armenia’s capital city Yerevan, which has become an annual pilgrimage for Armenians all over the world, has started Thursday, early in the morning.    

The Memorial is the place where people commemorate, on every April 24, the 1.5 million victims of the plan to exterminate the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, and place flowers to the monument to these victims.  

As every year, the path toward the Memorial is full of people.

The 1915-1923 events are considered by many historians as a state-supported mass murder - genocide. Armenia states that the death toll exceeds 1.5 million people; the half of all Armenians at the beginning of the last century.

The fact of the Armenian Genocide is formally recognized by many states. It was first recognized in 1965 by Uruguay. The Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey is also recognized by Russia, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Switzerland, Sweden, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Canada, Venezuela, Argentina, and 42 US states. The Armenian Genocide is likewise recognized by the Vatican, the European Parliament, and the World Council of Churches.