LA-area marches, ceremonies mark Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day

LOS ANGELES  — The red, blue and orange of Armenia’s flag flew on the streets of Los Angeles on Wednesday as marchers remembered the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians in what is regarded as the first genocide of the 20th century.

A crowd rallied in LA’s Little Armenia district before proceeding down Hollywood Boulevard. Another march was scheduled to culminate with a protest outside the consulate of Turkey, the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, which oversaw the mass deportations and massacres of Armenians.

A bill establishing Genocide Remembrance Day as a state holiday to be observed on April 24 and permitting public schools and community colleges to close in observance of the holiday was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2022.

The large Armenian community in the Los Angeles area has been marking Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day since long before President Joe Biden in 2021 became the first U.S. president to use the word “genocide” to describe the campaign of violence.

The White House had avoided using the term for fear of alienating Turkey, a NATO ally that denies there was a genocide.

Biden repeated the term Wednesday in a statement that recounted the start of the “campaign of cruelty” on April 24, 1915, with the arrest of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders.

Schools were closed in the Los Angeles and Glendale unified school districts to commemorate Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, marking the 109th anniversary of the start of events widely viewed by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century.

The LAUSD Board of Education adopted a policy in 2020 to close schools on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.

“Genocide commemoration is more than a history lesson. It is a powerful tool to engage people across generations in the sanctity of human rights, the enormity of crimes, and how to prevent future atrocities,” Newsom wrote in his signing message for AB 1801 by then-Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian, D-North Hollywood.

Ceremonies and rallies were also planned Wednesday in Beverly Hills, Montebello, Glendale and other communities.

The Los Angeles area is home to the largest population of Armenians in the world outside of Armenia itself.

On April 24, 1915, Ottoman authorities arrested Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople during World War I, leading to an estimated 1.5 million people being killed.

Turkey denies the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.

“On this solemn anniversary, as we pause to remember the innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide, we also reflect on the resilience of those who survived, and the perseverance of their children and grandchildren, who built new lives in the United States and around the world, speak the beautiful Armenian language, and enrich our nation with the Armenian culture and heritage,” Rep. Adam Schiff, Vice Chair of the Congressional Armenian Caucus, said in a statement released Wednesday.

“Armenians refused to let the Genocide define their lives or to limit their future potential. Instead, they showed the world that Armenians could face the future with courage, knowing that they have already overcome the worst atrocities of the past.”