Armenians around the world mark the 1915 genocide with marches

BEIRUT – Around the world on Friday, tens of thousands of people of Armenian descent commemorated the genocide 100 years ago of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks.

The annual April 24 commemorations mark the day when the mass killings started. An estimated 1.5 million died in massacres, deportations and forced marches that began in 1915 as Ottoman officials worried that the Christian Armenians would side with Russia, its enemy in World War I.

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

Here is a look at how the killings are being commemorated around the world.

BEIRUT

Tens of thousands of Lebanese of Armenian descent marched the stretch of several miles from an Armenian church in northern Beirut to a soccer field where the commemoration service took place. Many waved Armenian and Lebanese flags and scores wore caps with "I remember and I demand" printed on them in Arabic.

Lebanon has one of the largest Armenian communities in the world outside Armenia itself — mostly descendants of people who fled their homes in 1915. Experts estimate the community to number about 150,000 people today.

Among those attending the Beirut service was Agop Djizmedjian, a 52-year-old supermarket employee who brought his 5-year-old son George.

"I brought George today to tell him that our ancestors were killed in this genocide," Djizmedjian said. "When I die, my son will teach his children until we get our rights."

In Beirut's predominantly Armenian district of Burj Hammoud, most of the shops were closed and balconies were decorated with the red, blue and orange Armenian flags.

JERUSALEM:

In Jerusalem's Old City, Armenian priests held a mass at St. James Cathedral, their chants rising to the sky in the cavernous century-old church adorned with hundreds of metal lamps as light filtered from the dome windows.

Dozens of Armenian community members from Jerusalem and Israel, Israeli Jews, refugees from Darfur and others took part in the commemoration. Hundreds more waited outside the church and members of the Armenian community sold commemorative pins for the occasion.

Outside the church, gruesome black and white photos of decapitated heads and hanging were framed in posters, along with words demanding justice. "Denial of murders is a crime. Turkey guilty of Armenian genocide" and "Armenians demand justice" read some.

After the two-hour mass, Armenian priests laid wreaths at a monument in front of the cathedral.

"We think and we understand that denying the genocide is the continuation of the genocide," said Inon Zalcman, a member of "The Combat Genocide Association." He added that "more than that, denial of genocide, one genocide is the opening gate for another genocide."

Jewish Rabbi Lee Bycel from California said he came to show his support for the Armenian people who died in a genocide that much of the world doesn't recognize. "I think both Israeli Jews and American Jews care a lot and support the Armenian people, but the governments are reluctant to acknowledge it."

TEHRAN

Hundreds of Armenian-Iranians rallied outside the Turkish Embassy in downtown Tehran on Friday. Many chanted, "Death to the fascist government of Turkey."

The rally started with a march from an Armenian church in Tehran and ended peacefully around noon after the gathering outside the embassy.

GERMANY

President Joachim Gauck described the killings as genocide at a nondenominational service in Berlin on Thursday, organized by Germany's main churches — marking a shift in the country's stance after officials previously avoided the term.

On Friday, the German Parliament debated a non-binding motion that says "the fate of the Armenians is exemplary for the history of mass destruction, ethnic cleansing, expulsions and genocides which marks the 20th century in such a terrible way." Lawmakers are expected to approve a version of the motion before the summer. Speaker Norbert Lammert, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's party, labeled the killings genocide and said Germany's own Nazi past makes it important to speak out on the issue. He said: "we Germans cannot lecture anyone about dealing with their past, but we can through our own experiences encourage others to confront their history, even when it hurts."

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Associated Press writers Ian Deitch in Jerusalem, David Rising in Berlin and Nasser Karimi contributed to this report.