Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, also referred to as Armenian Genocide Memorial Day, is on April 24.
The Armenian Genocide took place in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.
On April 24, 1915, about 250 Armenian intellectuals were arrested in Constantinople. Among them were journalists, editors, clergymen, lawyers, physicians, politicians, teachers.
Most of them were deported. These arrests initiated systematic extermination of Armenians by the Ottoman government. The total number of people killed as a result of the genocide has been estimated at approximately 1.5 million.
The Armenian Genocide is considered to be one of the first genocides in modern history.
Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day was formally adopted as an official day of remembrance in the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1988.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it was declared a public holiday in independent Armenia.
