1965 Yerevan Demonstrations
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The 1965 Yerevan Demonstrations were a 24 hour mass protest in Yerevan, Armenian SSR (today Armenia), to demand recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
On April 24, 1965, for the first time for any such demonstration in the entire Soviet Union, one million protesters held a 24-hour demonstration on the fiftieth anniversary of the commencement of the Armenian Genocide, and demanded that the Soviet Union government officially recognize the Armenian Genocide committed by the Young Turks in the Ottoman Empire, and build a memorial in Armenia's capital city of Yerevan to perpetuate the memory of the victims of that Genocide.
To the shouts of "our land, our land" the major demonstration marked the first public awakening of the Armenian consciousness in Soviet Armenia. To prevent any further demonstrations from occurring, the Kremlin, which did not have good relations with Turkey, commissioned a memorial for the genocide. Many committed intellectuals, such as Silva Kaputikyan, had made impassioned pleas to the authorities in Moscow. The memorial, on Tsitsernakaberd hill, was completed in 1967.
Following the example of this high profile demonstration, similar protests were made throughout the world, wherever the Armenian Diaspora exists. Since the day of the protests, Armenians to this day visit the memorial and make protests around the world to gain acceptance of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey.
