Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Community Gathers To Break Ground On The Armenian Genocide Monument

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Community Gathers To Break Ground On The Armenian Genocide Monument

    COMMUNITY GATHERS TO BREAK GROUND ON THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MONUMENT

    The Collegian (CSU), California
    Nov 3 2014

    By Nadia Pearl

    Leaders from the local Armenian community and the university broke
    ground on the Armenian Genocide Monument on Sunday, a project that
    hopes to commemorate and educate the public when it opens next April.

    The monument will be located in Fresno State's Maple Mall and will be
    christened on April 24, 2015, the 100th anniversary of the Armenian
    Genocide's beginning.

    The genocide was a systematic extermination of the minority Armenians
    from their homeland during 1915 to 1923 at the hands of the Ottoman
    Empire government. Historians believe as many as 1.5 million Armenians
    were killed by executions and mass death marches.

    The main structure of the monument, which will be composed of bèton
    brut and tufa stones, will feature nine pillars that represent the
    six provinces of historic Armenia, the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia,
    the diaspora of Armenians throughout the world and the Republic of
    Armenia as it is known today.

    The monument's leading architect, Paul Halajian, said the design
    would convey respect for the generation that experienced the genocide,
    as well as today's generation that has "thrived" both as immigrants
    and in the Republic of Armenia.

    Rather than focusing purely on the "negative aspects," Halajian said
    the monument would also be a celebration. Above the pillars will be an
    incomplete halo, representing both the fracture left by the genocide
    and the unity of the Armenian people.

    Halajian has been working on the design for a year with a subcommittee
    of the organization Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee - Fresno.

    The committee is comprised of local leaders in the Armenian
    community, including Fresno State Armenian studies professor Barlow
    Der Mugrdechian.

    "To do this project on our campus, it was my dream that that would
    happen," said Der Mugrdechian, whose grandparents survived the Armenian
    Genocide before immigrating to Fresno.

    "This is very moving for me," he said.

    Also present at the ceremony, which drew a crowd of several hundred,
    was Levon Minasyan, a representative from the Consulate General of
    the Republic of Armenia in Los Angeles. He said the international
    recognition and condemnation of the genocide has been at the forefront
    of Armenia's foreign policy priorities for almost two decades.

    "The criminal must be punished. This is the only right way to go," he
    said. "Having this in mind, the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian
    people stand as a strong advocate of peace and justice.

    "The distortion of historical facts and the realities by Turkey cannot
    continue. We believe and hope that guilty consciousness will prevail
    in Turkey and the Turkish government will reconcile the reality
    of the Armenian Genocide. Crimes against Armenians and humanity,
    committed by its ancestors."

    The United States federal government has yet to formally recognize
    the Armenian Genocide, something Congressman Jim Costa, D-Fresno,
    said he hopes to change.

    "I will always be the strongest advocate I can be on your behalf in
    our nation's Congress, a member of the House of Representatives,
    to some day ensure, sooner rather than later, that the House of
    Representatives goes on record as recognizing the Armenian Genocide
    for all the right reasons," Costa said at the ceremony.

    As expressed by several speakers at the ceremony, the monument will
    serve as a way to educate the current and future community about
    this history.

    "We are committed to education, That's our primary mission, which
    is also at the core of the Armenian Genocide Monument," Fresno State
    President Joseph Castro said. "This monument will inform and educate
    people about the Armenian Genocide and bring awareness to the problem
    of genocide throughout history."

    While other locations in the U.S. have Armenian Genocide monuments,
    Castro said this would be the first on any college or university
    campus in the country.

    "We want this to be not only a symbol to commemorate the Armenian
    Genocide, but as a symbol of showing how Fresno State supports the
    recognition of the genocide and condemns genocides around the world,"
    said Marine Vardanyan, president of the Armenian Students Organization.

    "Students are going to be passing by all the time. So they're going to
    ask questions, they're going to be curious," she said. "So this will
    be a great way to stir up those discussions and get people talking
    about genocide as a global issue."

    The monument will be located in the most heavily-trafficked corridor
    on the university, said Cynthia Teniente-Matson, Fresno State vice
    president for administration and chief financial officer.

    Soil from various historic locations in Armenia was traditionally
    blessed during the ceremony before being placed in a cylinder that
    would act as the center of the future monument.

    "Our monument is intended to symbolize Armenians throughout the world,"
    Der Mugrdechian said.

    In Fresno particularly, Armenians have "many roots," said Vardanyan,
    who immigrated to Fresno with her family in 1999.

    "That's what I love about Fresno. We have those who actually came
    during the genocide, those that came earlier, those that came after
    and also then those that are coming now," she said. "We have a mixture
    of all the different immigrants."

    "We're Armenian-Americans, and we want to contribute to our own
    community," Vardanyan added.

    http://collegian.csufresno.edu/2014/11/02/community-gathers-to-break-ground-on-the-armenian-genocide-monument/



    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Working...
X