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The annual April 24 commemorations mark the day when some 250 Armenian intellectuals were rounded up in what is regarded as the first step of the massacre. An estimated 1.5 million died in the slaughters, deportations and forced marches that began in 1915 as Ottoman officials worried that the Christian Armenians would side with Russia, its enemy in the World War I.

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People lay flowers at a memorial to Armenians killed by the Ottoman Turks, as they mark the centenary of the mass killings, in Yerevan, Armenia.Sergei Grits/The Associated Press

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An Armenian holds a placard with a sign reading "1915", the year of mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks on a city street in Yerevan, Armenia.Sergei Grits/The Associated Press

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Honor guards take part in a commemoration ceremony to mark the centenary of the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex in Yerevan, Armenia.David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters

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Lebanese Armenians carry an Armenian national flag as they march in North Beirut. Thousands of Lebanese people of Armenian descent march in the streets to commemorate Armenians killed by Ottoman Turks a century ago.AZIZ TAHER/Reuters

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A man waves Armenian and Georgian flags at a memorial to Armenians killed by the Ottoman Turks, during marking the centenary of the mass killings, in Yerevan, Armenia.Sergei Grits/The Associated Press

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An Armenian woman lights a candle during a mass marking the 100th anniversary of the mass killings of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces, in Jerusalem's Old City.Amir Cohen/Reuters

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People lay flowers at a memorial to Armenians killed by the Ottoman Turks, as they mark the centenary of the mass killings, in Yerevan, Armenia.Sergei Grits/The Associated Press

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Armenians demonstrate in front of the Turkish consulate to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1915 Armenian genocide, in Jerusalem, Israel.Oded Balilty/The Associated Press

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People lay flowers at a memorial to Armenians killed by the Ottoman Turks, as they mark the centenary of the mass killings, in Yerevan, Armenia.Sergei Grits/The Associated Press

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Armenia's President Serge Sarkisian, foreground left, French President Francois Hollande, foreground right, Russian President Vladimir Putin, second row left, Cypriot President Nikos Anastasiadis, second row right, and the wife of Armenia's president Rita Sarkisian, background left, attend a memorial service in the Tsitsernakaberd Genocide memorial complex in Yerevan, Armenia.Tigran Mehrabyan/The Associated Press

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