| 1965 Yerevan demonstrations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Medal created inSoviet Armenia.Obverse: "Eternal Memory to the Martyrs of the Holocaust" inArmenian. Dually dated 1915 and 1965. View of the Armenian Genocide Memorial inTsitsernakaberd.Reverse: Flame in urn, 1915/1965 to upper left | |||
| Date | 24 April 1965 | ||
| Location | |||
| Goals | Commemoration andrecognition of the Armenian genocide Calls for unification ofNagorno-Karabakh andNakhichevan with Soviet Armenia[1] | ||
| Resulted in | Construction ofTsitsernakaberd | ||
| Parties | |||
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| Lead figures | |||
No leadership | |||
| Number | |||
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The1965 Yerevan demonstrations took place inYerevan,Soviet Armenia on 24 April 1965, on the 50th anniversary of theArmenian genocide. Historians of Armenia regard the event as the first step in the struggle for therecognition of the Armenian genocide of 1915.[2]
On 24 April 1965, 100,000 protesters held a 24-hour demonstration in front of theYerevan Opera Theatre on the 50th anniversary of the start of the Armenian genocide.[3] They demanded that theSoviet government officially recognize the genocide of 1915.[4][1] To the shouts of "our lands, our lands,"[2] many also called for a "just solution" to the Armenian question and for the unification ofNagorno-Karabakh andNakhichevan with Soviet Armenia.[1]
The demonstrators' demands encouraged Soviet Armenian authorities to complete amemorial honoring the 1.5 million Armenians who perished in the genocide. The memorial was originally planned for completion in 1965 but finished in 1967 atTsitsernakaberd hill, just in time for the 53rd anniversary of the beginning of the genocide.[5] The building of the memorial at Tsitsernakaberd was the first step in honoring important events and figures in Armenia's long history.[6]
The 1965 events were the first such demonstration in the entire USSR,[7] and marked a major awakening of Armenian national consciousness. Since the day of the protests, Armenians (and many people from thepost-Soviet space and all over the world) visit Tsitsernakaberd to honor the millions of Armenians who died in the genocide.[6]