In 1915, the Ottoman Empire began the systematic deportation and massacre of its Armenian population. As many as 1.5 million Armenians were killed – widely regarded by historians as the twentieth century's first genocide, and the event for which the term was later coined. Stephan Pechdimaldji, the grandson of two of the survivors, spoke to RFI about why recognition still matters.
Turkey acknowledges there were mass deaths but rejects the term "genocide", and has lobbied for a century against its recognition as such.
