unveil genocide monument LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich will officially unveil a permanent Armenian Genocide monument at Grand Park’s Olive Court on September 17 at 5:00. Last year, Supervisor Antonovich sponsored the highly popular and well-received iWitness public rt installation at Grand Park and the Music Center. Moved by the great response, LA County has teamed-up with the iwitness project to install a permanent memorial to the Genocide. The unveiling will include musical performances and speakers.

The iWitness project is a collective made up of artists Ara Oshagan, Levon Parian, architect Vahagn Thomasian and other activists and artists.

The permanent monument is made of black volcanic tuff rock imported directly from the Ararat Valley of Armenia. Tuff is indigenous to the Armenian highlands and deep-rooted in that millennial history. It has been the material of choice for centuries and used to build hundreds of churches, historical buildings and artworks. The monument is a silent witness to that history as well as a witness to the Genocide itself. The sculpted angular shape of the iwitness monument is an echo and extension of the iwitness installation.

“This remarkable memorial honors the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide and offers a space for contemplation and reflection,” said Supervisor Antonovich. “I’m thrilled to have this monument in Grand Park where people from diverse backgrounds gather to celebrate and reflect in this urban oasis. It’s a natural fit.”

Sculpted by Vahagn Thomasian, the monument is both organic and conceptual. It is sourced from the earth itself and blends in with the natural flora and fauna of Grand Park. The monument is split in two, symbolizing the spiritual and physical rupture of the Armenian Genocide: a disruption of history and community not only for the Armenian nation but also for all of humanity.

“The idea that a rock can be a witness is perhaps unusual but very significant”, says artist Ara Oshagan. “It was there and that history is imbedded in it. A witness need not speak to be a witness. Just like the trees around Auschwitz are witnesses to the Holocaust.”

The juxtaposition of smooth and rough surfaces on either half of the iwitness monument further symbolizes the past and the present and re-emphasizes the disruption between the two realities.

“The monument is sculpted at 4, 24, 19, 15 degrees symbolizing the date of April 24, 1915,” said architect and designer Vahagn Thomasian. “The monument has meaning at every level of its conceptualization and construction.”

April 24 is the infamous day the Ottoman Turks began their systematic annihilation of the Armenian people. Armenians worldwide annually commemorate April 24 with memorials, vigils, marches, protests and demands for recognition of the Armenian Genocide, which the present Turkish government continues to deny.

Wrapped around the foot of the iwitness memorial are words by the Pulitzer Prize winning Armenian- American playwright and author, William Saroyan—urging a celebration of life and hope for the future. “This is a memorial to a horrible event,” says artist Levon Parian, “but Saroyan’s words elevate and remind us of the mysteries and joys of being alive. We remember the past, but live in the today- reaching for the future.”

YEREVAN (ARMENPRESS)—A committee formed within the Armenian state commission on the coordination of events for the 100^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide is reportedly preparing a file on the legal claims of property and other rights and interests of the Armenian people in the aftermath of the Genocide.

Gagik Harutyunyan, president of the Constitutional Court of Armenia, heads the committee, and will discuss the file and future processes during a meeting of the state commission on September 26.

Vigen Sargsyan, President Serzh Sarkisian’s chief of staff and coordinator of events dedicated to the Genocide centennial, told Armenpress that the process of restoring the rights of the Armenian people has just begun.

“You know, we already have the first legal claims filed by [the] Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia. I think that the process will continue, people will start re-evaluating documents, the heritage, the evidence they possess. The ‘Share Your Story’ project greatly contributes to the latter, which we realized on the official website of the Armenian Genocide Centennial, where young people especially [have] posted their family stories, memories, arousing demand in them,” Sargsyan said.

The provisions of the Pan-Armenian Declaration on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, adopted on January 29, 2015, expresses the united will of Armenia and the Armenian people to achieve worldwide recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and the elimination of the consequences of the Genocide. To this end, the file being prepared on the Armenian people’s legal claims is a point of departure in the process of restoring individual, communal and pan-Armenian rights and legitimate interests.

Sargsyan said that the events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, and especially its emblematic Forget-Me-Not flower, have served their purpose. The events held on April 22-24 in Armenia were broadcast by the world media, reaching 1.3 billion people worldwide.

“Taking into account that all the international channels ensured live broadcasting, it provided the possibility for large masses to get familiarized with the events in a way we wanted them to,” Sargsyan said.

In practical terms, according to Sargsyan, the events dedicated to the centennial of the Armenian Genocide created new models of cooperation between Armenia and the Diaspora.

“All of us worked together; the success of the 100th anniversary events proves the immense power of cooperation. I think that Armenia became home to the Armenians spread all over the world where they would like to return to as a place for uniting their ideas, achieving professional success, [and] implementing projects,” emphasized Sargsyan.

The most inspiring and modest result of the centennial events and the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute is the daily visit of Turkish tourists to the museum. Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Hayk Demoyan said during a meeting with journalists that more Turks visited the museum in the last month than during the 15 years of the museum’s existence.

“Turks’ visits to the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute have become regular. The greatest and the most impressive thing for us is their silence. If earlier they used to come with certain skepticism, made inquiries, cast doubts, today they do not have reasons for questioning,” Demoyan stated, adding that to some extent they had reached the goal: to reach Turkish society so that Turks can begin understanding why a new chain of events occurred in terms of international recognition of the Genocide all over the world.

“Why are exhibitions organized on [the governmental] level in Paris and [in] over 40 cities of France? Why [did] state officials visit Tsitsernakaberd? This complex of “why’s” will lead to an important objective, so that we become able to change approaches among future generations [of Turks], so that they understand that their authorities distort the reality,” noted Demoyan.

A forum of experts gathered today in Yerevan under the slogan, “I remember and Demand,” to discuss the results of Armenian Genocide centennial events held this year.

The number of countries which have officially recognized the Armenian Genocide has reached twenty four, deputy foreign minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said today.

According to Kocharyan, five counties recognized the Armenian Genocide between 2014 and 2015. Kocharyan said that another important point is that the number of countries that have criminalized the denial of the Armenian Genocide has increased from two to four.

“Extremely important are the reactions of various international organizations, the resolutions they adopted, including the European Council, which not only condemn the Armenian Genocide, but also call on Turkey to come to terms with its history,” Kocharyan said.

Kocharyan emphasized also the recognition by Armenia of the Greek and Assyrian genocides in the Ottoman Empire as an important step.

LOS ANGELES, Supervisor Antonovich to Unveil Genocide Monument at Grand Park

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