Turkey admits that in a series of events under Ottoman rule, many thousands of people died - but it strongly opposes the use of the word 'genocide'.
Geoffrey Robertson is an international human rights lawyer, and a prominent voice for the designation of the use of the word 'genocide' to describe what happened to the Armenians.
He's told Kristina Kukolja why he believes Australia should have been attending today's commememorations in Yerevan to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of what the Armenians call genocide.
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