Armenians demand recognition of 1915 genocide carried out by Ottoman Turks
Ceremonies being held to mark 100 years since beginning of mass killings by Ottoman Turks, which modern Turkey says was not genocide
Life had barely begun for Khosrov Frangyan when he knew the fear of being an Armenian in the Ottoman Empire.
A century later, the memories still torment him.
"Somebody told us that Turks will come and start killing us," said the 105-year-old, recalling how he and fellow villagers hid on top of a mountain. "Turkish soldiers came and wanted to come up ... We did not have weapons, so we started to throw stones and rocks on them."
Frangyan and his family managed to escape by boat to Beirut and then on to Armenia itself. He now lives with his children and grandchildren in a city 20km outside the capital. But an estimated 1.5 million died in massacres, deportations and forced marches beginning in 1915.
Armenia - many scholars and some countries call it the 20th-century's first genocide. Modern Turkey, the successor to the Ottoman Empire, vehemently rejects the charge. Whatever it is called, the violence gouged a psychic wound so deep that it pains Armenians born generations later.