The 1965 Yerevan demonstrations took place in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

on April 24, 1965, on the 50th anniversary of the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...

. It is said that this event constitutes the first step in the struggle for the

recognition of the Armenian genocide Armenian genocide recognition is the formal acceptance that the systematic massacres and forced deportation of Armenians committed by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, during and after the First World War, constituted genocide. Most hist ...

of 1915. On April 24, 1965, for the first time for any such demonstration in the entire

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, 100,000 protesters held a 24-hour demonstration in front of the

Opera House An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets. While some venues are constructed specifically fo ...

on the 50th anniversary of the commencement of the Armenian genocide, and demanded that the Soviet Union government officially recognize the Armenian genocide committed by the Young Turks in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

, and build a memorial in Armenia's capital city of Yerevan to perpetuate the memory of the victims of the Armenian genocide. The posters said "Just solution to the Armenian question" and other nationalistic slogans concerning

Western Armenia Western Armenia (Western Armenian: Արեւմտեան Հայաստան, ''Arevmdian Hayasdan'') is a term to refer to the eastern parts of Turkey (formerly the Ottoman Empire) that are part of the historical homeland of the Armenians. Weste ...

Karabakh Karabakh ( az, Qarabağ ; hy, Ղարաբաղ, Ġarabaġ ) is a geographic region in present-day southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia, extending from the highlands of the Lesser Caucasus down to the lowlands between the rivers Kura and ...

and Nakhichevan. To the shouts of "our land, our lands" the major demonstration marked a substantial public awakening of the Armenian consciousness in Soviet Armenia. The

Kremlin The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of the kremlins (Ru ...

taking into account the demands of the demonstrators, commissioned a memorial for the genocide and the 1.5 million Armenians who perished. The memorial, on

Tsitsernakaberd The Armenian Genocide Memorial complex ( hy, Հայոց ցեղասպանության զոհերի հուշահամալիր, ''Hayots tseghaspanutyan zoheri hushahamalir'', or Ծիծեռնակաբերդ, '' Tsitsernakaberd'') is Armenia's official ...

hill, was completed in 1967, in time for the 53rd anniversary of the beginning of the genocide. The building of the memorial to the fallen of the genocide was the first step in honoring important events and figures in Armenia's long history, for monuments honoring the Armenian victories in Sardarapat and Bash Abaran against the Ottoman Turks in 1918, among others, were later built one after the other. Following the example of this demonstration , similar protests were made throughout the world by the

Armenian diaspora The Armenian diaspora refers to the communities of Armenians outside Armenia and other locations where Armenians are considered an indigenous population. Since antiquity, Armenians have established communities in many regions throughout the world. ...

. Since the day of the protests, Armenians (and people from many of the former republics of the Soviet Union and all over the world as well) to this day visit the memorial and make protests around the world to gain acceptance of the Armenian genocide by

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

and to honor the millions of Armenian deaths during this sad period of Armenian history.

References

External links

Armenian Genocide Centennial
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yerevan Demonstrations, 1965 1965 in Armenia Yerevan demonstrations Armenian genocide commemoration Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic Protests in Armenia Yerevan Protests in the Soviet Union 1965 protests 20th century in Yerevan April 1965 events in Europe

See also

References

Further reading

External links