LA’s big Armenian community marks genocide remembrance day

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The killing and deportation of Armenians by Ottoman Empire forces in the early 1900s is being remembered in Southern California. Only recently has its enormous Armenian American community been able to celebrate U.S. recognition that the systematic oppression was genocide. Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day has long been marked in the Los Angeles region by big rallies and marches. In 2021, Joe Biden became the first U.S. president to use the word “genocide” to describe the violence, over the objections of Turkey, successor to the empire. More than 200,000 people of Armenian descent are estimated to live in Los Angeles County, where April is celebrated as Armenian History Month.