Massachusetts elected officials gathered at the State House Friday morning to commemorate the 109th anniversary of the Armenian genocide that left between 600,000 and 1 million dead, according to conservative estimates.

Mary Vartanian, a 109-year-old survivor of the genocide, traveled to the House Chamber flanked by members of the Boston Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police to take part in the event.

The Armenian genocide, which occurred from spring 1915 to autumn 1916 in the Ottoman Empire, is often referred to as the first genocide of the 20th century, according to Yale University’s Genocide Studies Program.

“From 1915, inspired by rabid nationalism and secret government orders, Turks drove the Armenians from their homes and massacred them in such numbers that outside observers at the time described what was happening as ‘a massacre like none other,’ or ‘a massacre that changes the meaning of massacre,'” an account of the genocide published by the university said.