Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day 2027 is on Saturday

About Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day

The date recalls April 24, 1915, when Ottoman authorities arrested Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople, now Istanbul. That night is treated as the start of a campaign, carried out during World War I, in which Armenians across the empire were deported, massacred or sent on forced marches. In his 2021 statement for the day, President Joe Biden put the toll at one and a half million people. Armenians also call the catastrophe Meds Yeghern, the Great Crime.

In Armenia the focus of the day is the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex on a hill above Yerevan. Soviet Armenian authorities agreed to build it for the 50th anniversary in 1965, and it opened on November 29, 1967. According to the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, which opened beside the memorial in 1995 for the 80th anniversary, hundreds of thousands of people have walked to the memorial every April 24 since 1968 to lay flowers around its eternal flame. Armenian communities in other countries hold their own church services, marches and vigils on the same day.

Recognition of the genocide remains a political question. In the United States, the House of Representatives affirmed it in House Resolution 296, passed 405 to 11 on October 29, 2019, and the Senate agreed to Senate Resolution 150 by unanimous consent on December 12, 2019. In 2021 President Biden used the word genocide in his April 24 statement. Turkey, the Ottoman Empire's successor state, rejects the term, and its foreign ministry condemned Biden's statement and summoned the US ambassador.

The day is a solemn remembrance. Many observers also use it to talk about genocide prevention and the protection of minorities today.

Sources: Biden White House archives: Statement by President Joe Biden on Armenian Remembrance Day (2021), Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute: Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex, description and history, Congress.gov: H.Res.296, 116th Congress, Congress.gov: S.Res.150, 116th Congress, Al Jazeera: Turkey summons US ambassador after Armenian 'genocide' statement (2021). How we check dates.

How to mark Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day

• Attend a commemoration, church service or candlelight vigil organized by an Armenian community near you.
• Read survivor testimony or historical records collected by the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute or a university archive.
• Visit a local Armenian genocide memorial, or if you are in Yerevan, walk to Tsitsernakaberd and lay a flower at the eternal flame.
• Learn about the Armenian diaspora in your own city, including its churches, schools and cultural centers.
• Teach or discuss the history in a classroom or reading group, along with what genocide prevention efforts look like today.

Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day dates