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Hundreds of local families held a silent vigil in front of the Turkish Embassy on April 24th, protesting the Turkish Government's denial of the Armenian Genocide and calling for justice for this crime, ANCA reports.

A series of Azerbaijani media had disseminated disinformation saying that the rally that the Armenians wanted to hold in front of the Turkish embassy to Washington had allegedly failed.

According to the statement the solemn remembrance was met by several dozen anti-Armenian counter-protesters – who blasted Turkish music in a shameful celebration of the murder of 2 million Armenians, Pontian Greeks and Syrians at the hands of the Ottoman Turkish Government from 1915 to 1923.

"We are here to tell Turkey that we stand up for the truth and we will continue to do so every year until justice is served for the Armenian Genocide," said Hagop Simonian, Chairman of the Armenian Youth Federation Washington Ani Chapter, which organized the annual protest. "With the support of our community, we see a growing number of youth joining us every year - and that speaks volumes as we expand the international battle to defend the rights of the Armenian nation."

“The dances and cheers by Turkish counter-protesters to pop-music pumped out of speakers powered from the Turkish Embassy stood in stark contrast to the PR plans of Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan, who sought, through a statement of "condolence" issued just one day before, to repackage his denials under the banner of "shared pain," the statement reads.

“The Turkish Prime Minister on the one hand is trying - in a rather clumsy and transparently cynical manner - to present himself as some sort of peacemaker by repackaging his denials in a more sophisticated way, but at the same time his Embassy in Washington is supporting protests cruelly mocking the victims of the Armenian Genocide," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.

A highlight of the 2014 protest was the participation by the HyeRiders Motorcycle Club, over a dozen of whom rode some 3,000 miles from Southern California over a four day period to stand with the Greater Washington DC community against Turkey's lies. The group rode past Armenian and Turkish protesters along Washington's historic Massachusetts Avenue with Armenian flags waving. "We are here to support the DC Armenian Community and to let them know that we are not backing away in the face of Turkish lies," said HyeRiders president Berj Kasparian.

Following the demonstration, Armenian Americans gathered at the Armenian Embassy to hold a Requiem Service in memory of Armenian Genocide victims, presided by Rev. Fr. Sarkis Aktavoukian of Soorp Khatch Armenian Church and Rev. Fr. Hovsep Karapetyan of St. Mary Armenian Church and Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, Legate of the Eastern Diocese.