Kim Kardashian marks Armenian genocide anniversary on Twitter

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Kim, 34, began the social media postings saying she is 'proud' to say she has now visited her ancestor's homeland
Star visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex earlier this month
Has returned to the United States but still wanted to mark the occasion
Admitted she was sad some people are yet to recognize the mass murder
But she revealed her happiness that this is beginning to turn around

By Wills Robinson and Ted Thornhill for MailOnline

Published: 15:15 EST, 24 April 2015 | Updated: 17:23 EST, 24 April 2015

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Kim Kardashian has marked the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide on Twitter - sharing her pride at the strength of her ancestors' homeland.

The 34-year-old began the social media postings on Friday saying she is 'proud' to have finally visited, but admitted she is 'saddened' by the fact 'not everyone has recognized that 1.5 million people were murdered' by the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

The reality star visited the eternal flame of the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex on the outskirts of the capital Yerevan with her husband Kanye and sister Khloe earlier this month.

Sister Kourtney had to the miss the trip because of her new baby, but she and Khloe also took to social media today in support and remembrance.

Kim is now back in the United States, but still wanted to mark occasion as foreign leaders including French President Francois Hollande and Russian President Vladimir Putin, attended a flower laying service.

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Kim Kardashian has marked the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide - sharing her pride at the strength of her ancestors' homeland. She visited the country with husband Kanye West for an eight-day tour earlier this month (pictured)

In her first social media post to mark the day on Friday, the reality star uploaded a picture of her recent trip to Armenia with her sister Khloe

Khloe looked emotional as the pair laid flowers at the eternal flame of the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex on the outskirts of the capital Yerevan on April 11

She wrote on Twitter: 'Today marks the 100 year anniversary of Armenian Genocide! I am proud to now say I have been to Armenia.

'I have seen the memorials and the people who survived and I am so proud of how strong the Armenian people are!

'I am saddened that still 100 years later not everyone has recognized that 1.5 million people were murdered.

'But proud of the fact that I see change and am happy many people have started to recognize this genocide! We won't give up, we will be recognized by all soon!'

Meanwhile, sister Kourtney posted a photo of Khloe and Kim at the eternal flame and wrote in part, 'I have been told about the genocide since I was old enough to understand it by my father and grandmother. Today is about recognizing and remembering all of the 1.5 million people who were killed.'

Khloe posted the same frame, with a longer caption, saying' Knowledge is power! If we know better than hopefully we shall do better.... I am proud to be Armenian and I won't be silenced or made to believe the stories of our ancestors are "exaggerated". I pray that the moral universe ultimately will bend towards justice.'

All three sister included the hastag #neverforget.

The 34-year-oldreminisced about her recent tour and expressed her pride at the citizens from her ancestor's homeland

She admitted disappointment that some have failed to recognize the massacre at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1915

However she revealed her happiness, as more people begin to recognize the atrocities

The reality star insists she will never give up in gaining recognition for the people of Armenia

Kourtney also spoke out on social media, posting this photo of her sisters on Instagram captioned: Today marks 100 years since the Armenian genocide. I have been told about the genocide since I was old enough to understand it by my father and grandmother. Today is about recognizing and remembering all of the 1.5 million people who were killed. #tragicsilence #neverforget #armeniangenocide #proudarmenian

Khloe used the same photo, and captioned it: 'Today marks the 100 year anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Knowledge is power! If we know better than hopefully we shall do better. Genocides, massacres, human slaughter... are despicable acts!! Educating people as to what happened in history is our duty. It is also our duty to not be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation no matter their race or creed. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. I am proud to be Armenian and I won't be silenced or made to believe the stories of our ancestors are "exaggerated". I pray that the moral universe ultimately will bend towards justice. Today let's respect the eternal memory of those who perished in this undeniable act of hate. #NeverForget #1915 #ArmenianPride #EternalFlame

The Armenian ancestors are on the Kardashian's father's side - his family emigrated to the United States from an area that now lies in Turkey.

During her eight-day trip at the beginning of April, Kim and her family and film crew visited Yerevan's genocide memorial and Armenia's National Archives to see documents about her ancestors.

At the memorial, the pair looked somber, and at one point Khloe, 30, was seen wiping tears away as she stood in silence with her two Armenian cousins.

The Kardashians also met the Armenian Prime Minister during the visit and she dug deeper into her family roots.

She also visited the overgrown ruins of her modest ancestral family home, complete with rusted sheet metal walls, no roof, and piles of rubble and debris littering the site.

Turkey denies the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians, in what is now Turkey, in 1915 at the height of World War One constitutes genocide and relations with Armenia are still blighted by the dispute.

Vladimir Putin, who is currently orchestrating a war in the Ukraine, was roundly condemned by Turkey for calling the mass killings a genocide, with a statement drawing his attention to Russia's own acts of aggression.

Kim and her sister Khloe prepare to lay flowers at Armenia's genocide memorial during their trip earlier this month. Their ancestors are from their father's side

Its foreign ministry said: 'Considering the mass killings, exiles... that Russia has carried out in the Caucasus, Central Asia and in eastern Europe over the past century... we think it should be the one that knows best what a genocide is and what its legal dimensions are.'

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he 'shared the pain' of Armenians, but as recently as Thursday he again refuted the description of the killings as genocide and has shown no sign of changing his mind.

The French and Russian presidents, Francois Hollande and Vladimir Putin, were among guests who placed a yellow carnation in a wreath of forget-me-nots at a hilltop memorial near the Armenian capital Yerevan and led calls for reconciliation.

THE KARDASHIAN'S CONNECTION TO ARMENIA

Kim Kardashian and her family travelled to Armenia as the country prepared to mark the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide on April 24.

During the eight-day trip, the family group and a film crew visted Yerevan's genocide memorial and Armenia's National Archives to see documents about the Kardashian family ancestors.

Robert Kardashian, father of Kim, Kourtney, Khloe and Robert Jr, was a third-generation Armenian American.

Treated like royalty: Kim and Khloe were treated to a special dinner with locals in Armenia

The celebrity lawyer, who passed away in 2003 just eight weeks after being diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, passed on his pride in his heritage to his family, who have been vocal about their Armenian roots.

Robert's ancestors fled the Armenian Genocide in the early 20th century, thanks to a 'prophet' who urged them to uproot to America.

Known at the time as the Kardaschoffs, in Russian style, the family made their way from their home village of Karakale in the late 19th Century to German ports. From there, they travelled to a new life in America on the passenger vessels SS Brandenberg and SS Koln.

By doing so, they escaped the triple horror of the First World War from 1914-18, the 'Armenian Genocide' starting in 1915 - exactly a century ago this year - and the Russian Revolution in 1917.

Among those fleeing Erzurum - then in Armenia, and ruled by last Russian Tsar Nicholas II was family patriarch Hovhannes Miroyan and Kim's great great grandfather, born in 1844. He married Luciag Chorbajian, born in 1853.

The couple wed in Erzurum, which is now in Turkey, in 1867 but escaped along with their daughter Vartanoosh Mironyan, born in 1886, in the early 20th century.

Vartanoosh's distinctly blonde daughter Haigoohi Arakelian - known as Helen, born in America in 1917, the year the Bolshevik Revolution rocked the Russian Empire - was Kim's grandmother, who later married into the Kardashian clan.

The glamorous and 'dynamic' Helen wed Arthur who ran the largest meat-packing business in southern California.

Helen's son Robert married Kris Houghton and fathered the 21st Century's biggest reality TV stars Kourtney, Khloe, Robert Jr and most famous of all - Kim.

Their mother Kris eventually married Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner and together they raised two more TV personalities, Kendall and Kylie.

Tribute: (From left in front row) Armenian Apostolic Church leader Catholicos Garegin II, Rita Sarkisian, her husband Armenia's President Serge Sarkisian, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Cypriot President Nikos Anastasiadis and French President Francois Hollande place flowers at the Tsitsernakaberd Genocide memorial complex in Yerevan

Lebanese Armenians march with flags and placards on the Antelias highway, north of Beirut, on Friday to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire in 1915

People lay flowers at a memorial to Armenians killed by the Ottoman Turks in Yerevan

Armenian clerics stand next to the remains of Armenians at the Armenian Martyrs memorial at the Saint Stephano church in the Armenian Orthodox Archdeocese of Antelias, north of Beirut

Armenian clergymen hold candles during a special prayer on Friday at the Armenian St. James Cathedral in Jerusalem's Old City

Children hold placards depicting the massacre of the Armenians during a protest outside the Turkish consulate general in Jerusalem

101-year-old survivor remembers the Armenian mass killing

Kim Kardashian wears bright red to visit Armenian memorial

Armenian people light candles as they attend a commemoration ceremony for Armenians who lost their lives during the mass killings at the Temple complex of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Moscow, Russia

Turkish and Armenian people hold pictures of victims as they attend a memorial to mark the 100th anniversary of the mass killings in Istanbul

Armenians demonstrate in front of the Turkish consulate in Jerusalem, Israel. In February, Armenia, a poor country of 3.2 million that for decades was part of the Soviet Union, withdrew landmark peace accords with Turkey from parliament

HOW THE MASSACRE OF THE ARMENIANS UNFOLDED

The catalyst for the massacre in 1915 was fear in the Ottoman government that Armenians would side with its enemy Russia in World War 1.

The Armenians were already resented for their relative prosperity and success compared to many Ottoman Turks, but after they began organising volunteer battalions to help the Russian army, the government began a campaign against them.

First some 250 Armenian intellectuals were rounded up - then hundreds of thousands were forced from their homes in Anatolia and herded towards Syria.

Eventually an estimated 1.5 million died in slaughters, deportations and forced marches.

Many of those then targeted for expulsion starved to death, or were shot or bayoneted by Ottoman Turkish soldiers.

Soldiers stand guard in front of the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial in Yerevan during a commemoration ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the Armenian 'genocide'