|
Armenia is probably the only place in the world I’d agree to fly cramped in the middle seat of a Tupolev-154. And, this is how I arrived in Yerevan in the wee hours of the morning on April 23. This was to be my first April 24th, the day Armenians commemorate the genocide perpetrated by Ottoman Turkey on Armenians in 1915, in Armenia.
As I write this, the sun rising on the 25th of April, 2005, I recall 36 hours that have been a whirlwind of emotion that not even my overactive imagination could have prepared me for. The numerous times that I’ve watched televised footage of the somber masses marching to Tsitsernakaberd could not even begin to prepare me for being there in person, on the anniversary of this fateful day.
|
|
|
As a first act of commemorating the 90th anniversary of the genocide against Armenians, I decided to take part in what was billed as a youth rally on the evening of the 23rd. The crowd gathered slowly. As we stood near Hotel Armenia, we could see the organizers’ efforts at passing out flags and torches to the youth groups gathered at the center of the Hanrapetutiun Hraparak. At 9pm sharp, everyone started marching out of the Hraparak to the beat of drums from the military color guard leading the procession. The column, about two thousand strong at this point, was headed by a priest carrying a large cross. |
|
|
