One of the last remaining survivors of the 1915-1922 Armenian genocide has died aged 106.
Ovsanna Mirkhanyan (pictured) is reported to have died in Lenughi village of Armenia's western Armavir province.
Her son told journalists:
“She has undergone a complex surgery. Besides, she could not get out of bed because she fell in the yard."
He also said that two of Ovsanna Mirkhanyan’s children had died before her passing. He said:
"We are 5 children. My mother had 2 daughters in Syria, they both died."
It is though that Ovsanna Mirkhanyan was the last known living Armenia genocide survivor living in the Turkish-bordering province.
The Armenian genocide was one of the worst genocides of the 20th century and is often spoken about in the same context as the Jewish holocaust of World War II and the Rwandan genocide of 1994.
As many as 1 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman empire, which encompasses modern-day Turkey. Many of those that were killed were shot or executed, but many more were killed after being forced on ‘death marches’, in which they were forced to walk for long periods of time to other areas of the country. These marches took place in terrible conditions and many of the people eventually died from malnutrition and exhaustion.
30 countries, including the United States, now recognise the killings of Armenians as genocide. However, the Turkish state refuses to accept or acknowledge that the killings took place or that crimes were carried out against the Armenian people. This denial continues up until the present day.
[h/t: Greek City Times]
COMMENTS