WORCESTER, Mass. — It's been more than a century since the Armenian genocide, and in Worcester, a local pastor says although 109 years have gone by, it's important to remember what happened because history could repeat itself.

Between 1915 and 1916, the Ottoman Empire killed roughly 1.5 million Armenians.

Father Tadeos Barseghyan said every Armenian has a story to tell and this Remembrance Day of April 24 gives them the chance to do so.

“It's important to remember what happened in history, in human history, because history tends to repeat itself,” said Fr. Barseghyan. “If you don't remember, things may happen again. Every time a genocide is committed, we say, ‘never again, never again,’ but unfortunately it happens again in our human history. So today is important for us for remembrance but also steps to prevent future genocides.” 

Barseghyan said from his perspective, the Armenian church never recovered from the genocide.

He said more than 3,500 priests were killed.

He said currently there are only about 1,000 priests serving nearly 5 million Armenian people around the world.