Armenian Community of the UK marks the anniversary of the 1915 Genocide of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey

April 24, 2009, London. A Memorial Service was officiated by HG Bishop Nathan Hovhannisyan, Primate of the Armenian Church in the United Kingdom, at St. Sarkis Church in London in the memory of the victims of the 1915 Genocide. The Service continued in the Churchyard, where HE. Dr. Vahe Gabrielyan and Mr. Ara Palamoudian, Chairman of the Armenian Communty and Church Council of Great Britain, laid wreaths on behalf of respecively the Republic of Armenian and the British Armenian Community at the Memorial Khachkar erected as a monument to the 1915 victims. 

The Community later assembled in St. Yeghishe Church for a commemoartive evening program. Ambassador Gabrielyan delivered the opening speech, refering to the process of international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide and to the necessity for the British Government to do so. He also spoke of the recent developments in the Armenian-Turkish relations and explained the position of the Armenian Government.

Mr. Vicken Halajian (above right) spoke on behalf of the Armenian Community and Church Council (ACCC), in his capacity as the Chairman of ACCC's Executive Committee, while Dr. Onnik Avakian (below left) delivered his address on behalf of the Campaign for the Recognition of the Armenian Genocide (CRAG). HG Bishop

Nathan Hovhannisyan's speech closed the Commemorative Evening during which solemn pieces were performed by Anais Hegoyan, mezzo (below left) and the Vardanyan Quartet (below left), as well singer George Baghdoyan.

On April 25, CRAG organized the Annual Commemorative March, whereby numerous members of the Armenian Community and supporters passed through the main streets of Central London, demanding the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The procession ended at the Cenotaph on Whitehall where wreaths were laid by the ACCC and the Armenian Embassy in London.