What is our message on April 24, 2024?

Spring is in the air, and with that our Genocide commemoration season is upon us. Times have certainly changed since the “great re-awakening” in 1965, when our remembrances were supplemented with activism. Today our cause for justice is a year-round mission and not simply a spirited event in April. There is obvious good news with that evolution, but it also represents a challenge. 

In the past, our observances were largely mournful religious gatherings coupled with demonstrations demanding meaningful but distant objectives. Activism was defined primarily as international recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The powerful combination of scholarship and research along with focused advocacy has delivered tangible results in the last 50 years. When this process began, denialist scholarship was rampant, and western politicians often questioned the veracity of the Genocide. The truth has once again taken its rightful place. Major nations and virtually every international organization have formally recognized the crime committed by the Ottoman Turks as genocide. The outliers are isolated as denialists. Perhaps even more significantly, the level of awareness among politicians and the general public has dramatically changed. If you lived in the 1960s or earlier, you can fully appreciate how the environment has improved.