Thousands of Iranian Armenians took to Saint Sarkis Cathedral in Tehran to pay tribute to the victims of the notoriousmassacre.
The participants held banners reading We remember and demand justice.
Several Iranian officials and ambassadors of foreign countries also attended the event.
The representative of the Armenian communitiesof Tehran and northern Iran in Parliament addressed the congregation, calling on Ankara to recognize as "genocide" the mass murder of Armenians by Ottoman forces during World War I.
What Armenians demand now is that the Turkish government recognize [the massacre] as genocide and accept its legal consequences, Karen Khanlari said.
The late founder of the Islamic Republic, ImamKhomeini, condemned the massacre of Armenians and stressed that such an incident wouldnever take place in Iran where Armenians are allowed to enjoy all rights of an ordinary citizen, Khanlari said whilehailingTehrans stance onthe issue.
Iran kindly hosted the Armenian refugees who were forced to migrate to other countries in the 1910s, he further said.
Khanlari expressed hope that international pressureand condemnations play a keyrole in forcing Ankara to acknowledge historical facts.
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French President Francois Hollande arrives to attend a commemoration ceremony for the 100th anniversary of the Armenian massacre by Ottoman forces, Yerevan, April 24, 2015. AFP[/caption]On Friday, hundreds of thousands, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Francois Hollande, participated in a commemoration ceremony in the Armenian capital, Yerevan.
"I bow down in memory of the victims and I come to tell my Armenian friends that we will never forget the tragedies that your people haveendured," Hollande said during the event.
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Candles are placed on the ground to read 1915 as people hold a vigil outside a church service commemorating the centenary of the Armenian massacre by Ottoman forces in Berlin, April 23, 2015. AFP[/caption]Similar memorials are also scheduled to be held around the world by the Armeniandiaspora.
Armenians claimthat up to 1.5 million Armenian Christians were systematically slaughtered in eastern Turkey through mass killings, forced relocations and starvation, a process that began in 1915 and took place over several years during World War I and the breakup of the Ottoman Empire.
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A woman walks past an archive photograph during an exhibition about the Armenian massacre by Ottoman forces at a museum in Yerevan on April 21, 2015. AFP[/caption]Turkey fiercely opposes the useof the term genocide,saying that the conflict saw many people from both sides killed.
By Press TV
