The coldblooded execution of the plan sounded the death knell of the Armenian race in the Enmpire. for within a year. while Europe was in the death throes of the First World War. the Turks had successfully and with impunity carried out their mission through wholesale massacres. At the end of that war. when the sky had cleared. and the dust had settled over the areas formerly populated and cultivated by Armenians. there was hardly any trace of life. In this unprecedented human holocaust in modern times more than 1 million Armenians lost their lives. most of the survivors were scattered as refugees in neighboring lands. and only a small number of Armenians were spared. From that day on. every year Armenian communities everywhere observe April 24 as the day of their martyrs. paying homage not only to the memory of a few thousands of their leaders. but also in commemoration of 1 million innocent and helpless Armenians who lost their lives in that human carnage. I gladly join Americans of Armenian descent in the commemoration of that event. the Armenian Martyrs Day.
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refugees