101st Anniversary Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide in Times Square, Sunday, April 24

NEW YORK — The 101st Anniversary Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide will be held in Times Square (43rd St. & Broadway) on Sunday, April 24 from 2-4 pm. The organizers invite people of all backgrounds to join together to commemorate the Armenian Genocide (Medz Yeghern), Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) and subsequent genocides during Genocide Awareness Month.

Now in its 30th year, previous Armenian Genocide Commemorations in Times Square have attracted thousands of people to unite and show support for crimes against humanity. The Commemoration is free and open to the public. There will be free bus transportation to and from Times Square for NY and NJ participants. For more information on the Commemoration and bus transportation please visit www.kofv.org, click: Main/April 24, 2016.

The theme of the Armenian Genocide Commemoration is “Truth, Recognition, and Justice.” This historic event will pay tribute to the 1.5 million Armenians who were annihilated by the Young Turk Government of the Ottoman Empire and to the millions of victims of subsequent genocides worldwide. Attorney R. Armen McOmber of Redbank, NJ, Attorney Bryan Ardouny, Executive Director of the Armenian Assembly of America, Washington, DC and Rachel Goshgarian, PhD, Assistant Professor of History, Lafayette College, PA will preside over the ceremonies.

Speakers will include Joan Rivitz, EdD, Associate Director, NJ Commission on Holocaust Education and a NJ Civil Rights Commissioner and Pamela Steiner, EdD, Fellow at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and great granddaughter of Henry Morgenthau, former US Ambassador to Ottoman Empire during the Armenian Genocide. Drs. Rivitz and Steiner will be joined by Umit Kurt, PhD candidate, Turkish scholar, author and Armenian Genocide historian, and Sebu Simonian, Armenian-American singer, songwriter, producer and member of Capital Cities indie pop duo. Other presenters include religious, humanitarian, educational and cultural leaders, and performing artists.

The 101st Commemoration is organized by the Mid-Atlantic chapters of the Knights & Daughters of Vartan (www.kofv.org), an international Armenian fraternal organization headquartered in the United States, and co-sponsored by the Armenian General Benevolent Union (www.agbu.org), the Armenian Assembly of America (www.aaainc.org), the Armenian National Committee of America (www.anca.org), the Armenian Council of America, and the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party (ADL).

Participating organizations include the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, Prelacy of the Armenian Church of America, Armenian Missionary Association of America, Armenian Catholic Eparchy for U.S. and Canada, the Armenian Church Youth Organization of America (ACYOA), the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF-YOARF), several Armenian youth organizations, and university and college Armenian clubs.

For more information please visit www.kofv.org, click Main/April 24, 2016. To schedule interviews with Armenian Genocide experts please contact Linda Millman Guller: phone 203-856-7004, email: lmillmanguller@gmail.com.