Lebanon’s Christians unite to honor 110 years since 1915 genocides, demand recognition and justice

BEIRUT — Under the soft glow of the stage lights in the Municipal Palace Theater, nestled within the bustling Jdeideh—Bouchrieh—Al-Sadd area, the Universal Syriac Union Party (USUP) organized an extraordinary gathering. Titled From the Cross to the Resurrection … The Path of Calvary Walked in Caravans, the festival marked not only a moment of solemn remembrance but also an impassioned appeal for justice.

On this evening, Christians of the East from various Churches and political parties, gathered to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the Ottoman-era genocide of 1915. The Ottoman Empire’s systematic mass killings and forced deportations of Armenians, Syriacs (Arameans–Assyrians–Chaldeans–Maronite), and other Eastern Christians left indelible wounds on the conscience of humanity. Now, more than a century later, descendants and allies insisted that memory must translate into recognition, and recognition into tangible redress.

As patrons filed into the ornate theater, where gilded balconies overlooked a stage draped in banners bearing the red and white emblem of the USUP, one sensed a palpable mixture of grief and resolve. Rania Zahra Charbel, the evening’s host, opened the festival by reading a message from President General Joseph Aoun, a Syriac Maronite, conveyed with warmth, gratitude, and reverence for the martyrs whose lives were extinguished in 1915. Zahra’s voice, resonant with emotion, thanked the president “from the heart” on behalf of those present, setting the tone for an event that would weave together history, faith, and political advocacy.

In her introduction, Zahra reminded the audience that on 24 April 1915, deportations of Armenian intellectuals from Constantinople ushered in an era of unprecedented brutality. Soon after, Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean–Maronite) communities, too, confronted mass executions known in Syriac as the Sayfo, and starvation campaigns referred to in Maronite liturgy as the Kafno. The host spoke of two intertwined crimes: the first a massacre by the sword, the second a genocide by hunger. A century and a decade later, she urged, humanity’s conscience must be awakened once more; the echoes of these atrocities must not fade into oblivion.

Following the anthems of Lebanon and the USUP, former Minister Richard Kouyoumjian (Lebanese Forces, LF), speaking on behalf of Head of Lebanese Forces Dr. Samir Geagea, ascended the stage. Kouyoumjian honored USUP President Ibrahim Mrad and the USUP in general for uniting under the Lebanese cedar and the cross of Jesus Christ, acknowledging the solidarity of Lebanese political currents with the suffering of Eastern Christians. He chronicled how commemoration had long centered on the Armenian tragedy, only recently expanding to include the massacres of the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean–Maronite) people.

Drawing attention to the famine of Mount Lebanon — overshadowed in many textbooks — he lamented that generations of Lebanese students remained unaware of this chapter in their nation’s history. Kouyoumjian described the events as a clear genocide targeting all Christians within the Ottoman Empire, referencing the infamous statement: “We took Armenians by the sword, we will starve Christians in Lebanon.”

He implored Beirut’s municipality and governor to restore the Martyrs’ Monument’s original dedication, so that it properly honors those who fell resisting Ottoman oppression in 1915. Kouyoumjian denounced alliances born solely of minority protection or convenience, and he rejected partnerships with authoritarian regimes. The state and its army, he insisted, must stand as the guarantors of all Lebanese, ensuring that Lebanon remains “a haven and final homeland” for Armenians, Syriacs (Arameans–Assyrians–Chaldeans–Maronites), and every oppressed people seeking refuge.

When MP Elias Hankash took the podium to represent Kataeb Party leader Sami Gemayel, he spoke of saints and demons, of visions conjured by the late Sheikh Bashir Gemayel, and of conspiracies aimed at uprooting Lebanese Christians. He recalled how those who once threatened to drive Christians away had themselves departed, leaving the faithful standing firm. “Our bells will keep ringing,” he declared, “teaching our children and future generations everything we have learned, carrying this rich history of resistance and struggle for the next two hundred years.”

His address wove together the sacrifices of front-line fighters and the shared healing that has bound the Universal Syriac Union Party, Lebanese Forces, Free Patriotic Movement, and Guardians of the Cedars. For Hankash, Lebanon’s unique openness — religious and cultural pluralism enshrined in its soil — remains its greatest gift. He paid homage to generations of Syriacs (Arameans–Assyrians–Chaldean–Maronites) and Armenians who resisted deportation and massacre, and he affirmed a collective duty to build a future grounded in unity, lest history repeat its darkest chapters.

Dr. Amin Iskandar, president of the Maronite Union, reminded the gathering that 24 April 1915 was a turning point when for the Ottoman Empire, with authorities arrested and executed Armenian intellectuals. He explained that in Syriac liturgy, the massacre by sword is called Sayfo, while the famine that struck Mount Lebanon carries the gravity of the term Kafno.

Dr. Iskandar lauded the Lebanese Forces for their candor in commemorating these events, and he challenged Maronite institutions to erect a square honoring the 250,000 lives lost to starvation. Drawing on records from the American Red Cross, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and archives of the French Army, he recounted the heroic, but insufficient, relief efforts launched from Beth Kerke (Bkerke), where Church leaders smuggled aid by sea. He urged his fellow Maronites, and all Lebanese Christians, to teach students the grim truth of these sacrifices, to dedicate a day in the liturgical calendar to the famine’s martyrs, and to honor the memory of those who would not renounce their faith, even when facing death.

The head of the Hunchakian Party, Vanig Dakessian, turned to the legal dimension of remembrance. Citing the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948 and the Geneva Conventions of 1949, he argued that the massacres of Syriacs (Arameans–Assyrians–Chaldean–Maronites) meet every criterion of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Between 1915 and 1923, Ottoman-backed forces executed hundreds of thousands of civilians — women, children and the elderly — in acts that the international community promised to punish and prevent. Dakessian’s ringing call was not only for commemoration but for justice based on established international law. Perpetrators and their accomplices must be held accountable, he insisted, even if decades have elapsed. His voice underscored a universal principle: memory without accountability remains incomplete.

As speeches concluded, Ibrahim Mrad, head of the Universal Syriac Union Party, stood before the audience. He recounted how, in 1981, modern Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean–Maronite) resistance had been forged in Mardin Province against Turkish military posts, a struggle that would lead to the formation of the Bet Nahrain Freedom Party in Europe by 1982. Mrad reminded listeners that 1915 was not an isolated event: it followed two major genocides and presaged further massacres in Rish Ayno (Ras al-Ayn) in 1927 and Simele in 1933. He named the martyred — bishops like Addai Sher and Patriarch Mar Benyamin Ish-Shimon — whose courage inspired resistance across villages and monasteries, including the famed three-month stand at Ayn Ward and the six-month defense of Azekh. These were not acts of passive victimhood, he emphasized, but epic sagas of defiance that resonated with the legends of Bsharri, Deir al-Ahmar and, Zahle.

Mrad drew on ancient connections between the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean–Maronite) people and Lebanese soil, quoting the Epic of Gilgamesh’s account of divine armies dispatched to defend Mount Lebanon’s cedars. He portrayed Lebanon — the “heart of God,” or “Lebnon” in Syriac — as the only fortress of freedom in the turbulent Middle East. Unlike neighboring states that imposed uniform nationality, language and religion, Lebanon embraced diversity and offered sanctuary to the oppressed. The universal struggle for freedom, he argued, finds its bulwark in Lebanese pluralism.

But Murad’s speech was not merely retrospective. He addressed contemporary political realities, celebrating the partial implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for the disarmament of militias and respect for Lebanese sovereignty. He recounted how his party had stood shoulder to shoulder with Lebanese resistance groups — the Kataeb, Lebanese Forces, Guardians of the Cedars, and Tanzim — sacrificing 1,200 martyrs to defend the republic and its army. Yet he warned that the existing centralized system continued to marginalize Syriacs (Arameans–Assyrians–Chaldeans–Maronites) and other minorities, branding them as peripheral even as they bled and died for their homeland. Emigrating youth, capped at the rank of brigadier general in the army and excluded from ministerial and parliamentary posts, face systemic barriers that echo the old injustices. Mrad affirmed that the USUP would no longer accept symbolic gestures alone: real representation and rights were owed not as favors, but as recognition of their unbroken bond with Lebanon’s fate.

The audience, comprising Christian patriarchs, bishops, clergymen and lay leaders from every denomination — from Syriac Catholic Father Tarek Khayat representing Patriarch Mar Ignatius Joseph III Younan to Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Beirut Daniel Kourieh, from Greek Orthodox priest Father Michel al-Qatrib to Baptist pastor Amal Saad — listened in solemn solidarity. Representing President Aoun was Bechara Khairallah, and ministerial delegations were led by figures such as Brigadier General Jean Ghantous for Defense and Mrs. Marlene Haddad, Qaim-Maqam of Metn Region, for Interior. Parliamentarians from across the spectrum — Sheikh Nadim Gemayel, Razi el Hage, and representatives of Fouad Makhzoumi’s National Dialogue Party — stood alongside municipal candidates and security chiefs, union heads and media personalities. Together they embodied the festival’s aspiration: to bridge political divides and forge a unified front for justice.

All evening, the program was punctuated by readings of poetry and hymnody, by moments of quiet reflection and the tolling of bells that reverberated like ancient lamentations. The festival’s title — From the Cross to the Resurrection —was evoked not only as a Christian symbol but as a metaphor for the journey from suffering to redemption, from fragmentation to communal rebirth. In his concluding remarks, Mrad invoked Christ’s triumphant rising. “Christ is risen,” he proclaimed, “and so shall our cause endure.” His oath — never to forgive or reconcile until there is full recognition and compensation — resounded like a patriarchal decree, binding future generations to remembrance and resistance.

When the lights dimmed and the audience slowly dispersed into the night, there lingered an atmosphere of collective resolve. The Municipal Palace Theater had become more than a venue: it was for a few hours a living memorial, a crucible in which grief was transmuted into purpose. Across the hall, elder Syriacs clasped hands with young Assyrian students, Armenian dignitaries exchanged respectful nods with Maronite priests, politicians returned to whispered strategy sessions, activists renewed vows of advocacy. Outside, the streets buzzed with the afterglow of an event that spoke boldly of wounds past and futures demanded. In homes and coffee shops across Lebanon, conversations would now turn to the questions raised under the theater’s vaulted ceilings: How does a nation honor martyrs beyond commemorative plaques? What forms must justice take when the perpetrators lie beyond their graves? And perhaps most urgently, what kind of Lebanon will emerge if it heeds — or ignores — the voices from this evening?

The event, organized by the USUP, transcended the routines of political pageantry. It was neither a perfunctory anniversary ceremony nor a mere gathering of elites. It was an insistence that the dead be counted in history’s ledger, that the living claim their rightful place in the republic they have fought to defend. It was a summons to all who cherish freedom: to recognize, to repair, and to carry forward the legacy of those who marched Calvary’s road in caravans, toward the promise of resurrection. In that summons, the cross and the cedar intertwined, forging a path that Lebanon’s Christians — and indeed all its citizens — must walk together.

List of prominent figures in attendance:

• Bechara Khairallah — Media advisor to former President General Michel Sleiman, representing the President
• Former Minister Richard Kouyoumjian, representing Head of the Lebanese Forces Dr. Samir Geagea and MP Sethrida Geagea
• MP Elias Hankash (Kataeb Party), representing Head of the Kataeb Party MP Sheikh Sami Gemayel
• Brigadier General Jean Ghantous, representing Minister of Defense General Michel Mansi
• Marlene Haddad, Qaim-Maqam of Metn Region, representing Minister of Interior and Municipalities Ahmed Hajjar
• Brigadier General Mohammed Hassan, representing Commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces Rodolph Hayka
• MP Sheikh Nadim Gemayel (Kataeb Party)
• MP Razi el Hage (Kataeb Party)
• Roger Choueiri — Deputy of Head of the National Dialogue Party Fouad Makhzoumi
• Engineer Vanig Dakessian — Head of the Social Democratic Hunchakian Party (SDHP)
• Alexan Koshkaryan — Member of SDHP Central International Committee
• Avedis Dakessian — Head of the Ramgavar party
• Leslie Nkd, representing Guardians of the Cedars
• Regina Kantara, representing the World Council of the Cedar Revolution
• Aram Malian, Member of the Beirut Municipal Council, representing Beirut Governor Judge Marwan Abboud
• Lawyer Labib Harfouche, representing President of the Beirut Bar Association President Fadi Masri
• Lawyer Auguste Bakhos, candidate for the presidency of the Jdeideh—Bouchrieh—al-Sadd Municipality
• Sheikh Saeed Tawq, representing the Permanent Congress for Federalism
• Engineer Shukri Makrezi — Secretary-General of the Cedar Forum
• Father Tarek Khayat, representing Syriac Catholic Patriarch Mar Ignatius Joseph III Younan
• Bishop Georges Saliba, Syriac Orthodox Patriarchal Advisor
• Bishop Daniel Kourieh, Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Beirut
• Father Dory Fayad, representing Syriac Maronite Archbishop of Beirut Paul Abdel Sater
• Archpriest Elias Jirjis, representing Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Mount Lebanon and Tripoli Michael Shamoun
• Deacon Raphael Kobli, representing Chaldean Bishop Michel Kassarji
• Father Ninos Oda — Pastor of the Assyrian Church of the East
• Father Charbel Bou Abboud — Head of the Antonine Technical Institute
• Father Michel al-Qatrib — Priest of the Greek Orthodox Parish of Our Lady of the Fountain
• Father Attallah Makhoul — Priest of the Greek Orthodox Church Parish of Saint George
• Pastor Amal Saad — Pastor of the Baptist Church in Ain Zhalta
• Pastor Dr. Elias Maliki
• Father Shihab Attallah