Published on: 2026-04-24
Source: Official website of the State –
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April 24 is the Day of Remembrance for the victims of the Armenian Genocide. On that day in 1915, hundreds of Armenian writers, doctors, lawyers, journalists, teachers, clergy, and public figures were arrested in Constantinople. These events became one of the first overt steps in the policy of violent “solution to the Armenian question” and the beginning of a great tragedy that continued from 1915 to 1923.
By the beginning of the 20th century, up to 3 million Armenians lived in the Ottoman Empire. This was an ancient people with a centuries-old history, their own church, language, traditions of crafts and trade, and a developed cultural life. Armenian communities over the centuries created cities, frames, monasteries, schools, libraries, and cultural centers.
After the accession to power of the Young Turks in 1908, the policy of Pan-Turkism in the empire intensified, aiming to create an ethnically homogeneous state. The Armenian people were increasingly viewed as an obstacle to these plans, and with the beginning of the First World War, the authorities started “resolving the Armenian question.” Mass deportations, murders, and torture throughout the territory of the Ottoman Empire led, according to various estimates, to the death of from 1.5 to 2 million people — according to historians’ estimates, this was half of the entire Armenian population of the empire.”From the bridge to Jenis, the entire road was littered with corpses of old men, women, and children… Such a horrible stench stood that it was impossible to walk along the road,” — from the testimony of an eyewitness.
Communities were destroyed, houses, workshops, frames, monasteries, schools, and libraries were obliterated. It was an attempt to destroy not only the people but also the memory of the nation — its language, faith, culture, heritage, and the very right to exist. Men were killed, while women, children, and the elderly were driven in columns along the so-called “death marches” through the Syrian desert, where they perished from hunger, thirst, beatings, and exhaustion. “It was impossible to pass along the road — corpses lay everywhere… Our family of 12 was the only survivor,” recalled Ovannes Avetisyan, born in 1908. Hundreds of thousands of people became refugees. Thus emerged one of the world’s largest diasporas — the Armenian one.
Russia occupies a special place here. Already in the nineteenth century, Russian diplomats raised the issue of the security of Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire. During the Russo-Turkish War1877-1878For years, Armenians saw hope for protection in Russia regarding the resolution of the “Armenian issue.” The Russian society — figures of culture, science, and simply concerned people — did not remain indifferent to the fate of the Armenian people.
During the years of the tragedy, the Russian Empire became one of the main directions for the rescue of Armenian refugees. Russia, together with France and Great Britain, issued a statement calling it a “crime against humanity and civilization.” This formulation became one of the first in world history attempts to give a legal and moral assessment of the mass extermination of people. By the order of Nicholas II, the Russo-Turkish border was opened for Armenian refugees. People were provided with food, clothing, medical assistance, money, documents, and the opportunity for further resettlement — more than 350 thousand people were saved.Cossack units and Armenian volunteer squads helped evacuate women and children from the massacre areas and accompanied them to safe places.
This humanitarian tradition continued in modern Russia: on April 14, 1995, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted a statement “On condemning the genocide of the Armenian people in1915-1922In the year ».
President of Russia Vladimir Putin has repeatedly confirmed this position: “April 24, 1915, is a mournful date associated with one of the most terrible and dramatic events in human history — the genocide of the Armenian people. A century later, we bow our heads in memory of all the victims of this tragedy, which in our country has always been perceived as our own pain and misfortune.”
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