Lebanese-Armenians Commemorate Genocide Anniversary

Lebanon's Armenians marked on Sunday the 101 anniversary of when some 250 Armenian intellectuals were rounded up by Ottoman Turks as the first step of the genocide against them.

A demonstration marched from the Antelias Square to the town's main highway marking the genocide that was committed around the time of World War I.

It is 101 years on Sunday since Turkey's Ottoman government began arresting minority community leaders and setting in motion a campaign of systematic slaughter that had left 1.5 million Christian Armenians dead by the early 1920s.

Some 20 countries have recognized it as genocide as well as the European Parliament.

But Turkey rejects the claims, arguing that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians rose up against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops.