Armenia sharply curtails massacre commemoration

Yerevan's streetlights were dimmed on Thursday, as the city marked 105 years since the start of the Armenian genocide amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Residents of the capital shone flashlights from their windows and church bells rang to commemorate the dead.

This was in stark contrast to previous years' crowds of people marching in a torchlight procession from Yerevan's Freedom Square to its sprawling genocide memorial complex.

24 April 1915 is recognised as the official starting date of Armenia's horrors, in which 1.5 million Armenians were massacred by the Ottomans. The relentless campaign of eradication actually lasted some eight years.

This year, only the President, Prime Minister, Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia and the Catholicos of All Armenians will visit the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial on Friday morning to lay flowers.

Armenians and many historians consider the killings to be genocide, but Turkey, successor of the Ottoman Empire, vehemently denies this.

Thursdays muted commemorations comes as Armenia has confirmed 1,523 cases of the new virus and 24 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks.

For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.