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  • Genocide monument breaks new ground for Clark County

    Las Vegas Sun, NV
    Feb 1 2015

    Genocide monument breaks new ground for Clark County

    February 1, 2015
    by Conor Shine


    A tragedy that began a century ago in the Middle East is being
    memorialized in what may seem like an unlikely place -- Sunset Park.

    Thanks to the dedication of Las Vegas' Armenian-American community, an
    estimated 1 million to 1.5 million victims of World War I-era genocide
    of Armenians will be honored with a monument in the park.

    "The genocide is a part of our history, it's part of our identity,"
    said Andy Armenian, who helped lead the monument planning effort. "The
    monument will be a healing process for the community. For the broader
    (Las Vegas) community, we hope this monument will serve as a history
    reminder and with that be a deterrent to future genocides."

    The monument is a major accomplishment for Las Vegas' Armenian
    community, which has been working for five years to raise money and
    get permission to put the sculpture in one of the region's biggest
    parks.

    It's also opening the door for other public monuments to be placed
    around the valley. During a yearlong debate about whether to allow the
    Armenian Genocide monument, Clark County commissioners realized they
    had no rules in place for deciding whether to green light requests for
    proposed monuments. The result was a new policy, passed in December,
    that lays out guidelines for how to get monuments approved for display
    in public spaces.

    Monuments must address historic events, groups or people, have
    relevance to the broader community and be meaningful to future
    generations. They can't include religious speech and can be denied if
    they're considered objectionable to the general community. Other
    guidelines cover the look and location, and bar monuments from parks
    smaller than 25 acres.

    Commissioner Mary Beth Scow, whose district includes Sunset Park, said
    the rules ensure anyone requesting permission to build a monument in a
    park would receive a fair chance at approval. It also gives the county
    flexibility to deny proposals that don't meet the requirements.

    "I think (the Armenian genocide monument) hits the criteria," she
    said. "It's timeless. It has a lot of community significance. I don't
    think a lot of people are aware of that genocide. It's important for
    people to see, so we don't forget something like that and don't repeat
    it."

    Monuments also must be privately funded, something the Armenian
    American Cultural Society of Las Vegas accomplished by raising more
    than $100,000 to pay for construction and long-term maintenance.

    Andy Armenian said Sunset Park was chosen because of its proximity to
    the Armenian community's largest church, at Eastern Avenue and Desert
    Inn Road.

    "It's centrally located in Las Vegas," he said. "It's one of the
    largest and most visited parks. At the same time, many Armenian
    families live within five to 10 minutes of Sunset Park."

    Las Vegas' monument is modeled after a similar sculpture in Armenia,
    with 12 decorative concrete pillars representing the 12 provinces
    where Armenians were killed during the genocide. Construction is
    expected to begin in the next three months and finish in about a year.

    BOX:
    What is the Armenian Genocide?

    The Armenian Genocide began April 24, 1915, when the Ottoman
    government in what today is Turkey arrested about 200 Armenian
    community leaders. Systematic killing of Armenian men followed, and
    women, children and the elderly were forced out of their homeland on
    death marches to the Syrian desert.

    Between 1 million and 1.5 million Armenians were killed in what is
    considered one of the first modern genocides. The remaining Armenian
    community was scattered in a diaspora, eventually settling around the
    world, including in the United States.

    Controversially, the Turkish government, which succeeded the Ottoman
    Empire, still disputes the use of the term genocide to describe the
    mass killings.


    http://lasvegassun.com/news/2015/feb/01/genocide-monument-breaks-new-ground-clark-county/

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