Armenians mark 99th anniversary of genocide

Armenians held in the capital city of Yerevan on Thursday a high-profile ceremony to mark the 99th anniversary of the 1915 Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Prime Minister Hovic Abrahamyan, lawmakers, high-ranking military officers as well as government officials attended the ceremony at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial.

On April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Empire authorities arrested hundreds ofArmenian intellectuals overnight. Most of them were executed and others were exiled, according to Armenian historians.

That was followed by mass deportations of Armenians from the eastern regions of Turkey. More than 1.5 million Armenians were killed from 1915 to 1923, Armenian historians said.

Each year on April 24, thousands of Armenians from all walks of life and visitors from around the world come to the Tsitsernakaberd (The Swallow's Fortress) in Yerevan to memorize the victims of the genocide.

Now more than 20 countries have officially recognized the fact of the Armenian Genocide.

However, the Turkish government has been consistently denying that the tragedy was a planned genocide, and argues that the number of people killed was less.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan on Wednesday conveyed condolences over the killing of Armenians under Ottoman rule during World War I, the first ever condolences by a Turkish leader.