24 April 2017

THINK 3 VIDEO NEWS: Armenian Martyrs Day

Armenians date the beginning of the Ottoman Empire's attempted genocide of their people from April 24, 1915. Armenians abroad commemorate the atrocity annually on April 24, which they designate as Armenian Martyrs Day or Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. In Troy NY the commemoration took place this afternoon in Riverfront Park, a couple of minutes by foot from my office. The Armenian Genocide monument is located behind a much larger Vietnam War memorial, the rear wall of which formed the backdrop for today's proceedings. Local politicians attended the event, finding it easier than it is for their counterparts at the national level, where good relations with the Republic or Turkey are widely desired, to use the g-word to describe the Turks' slaughter of Armenians. Here's the crowd singing the Armenian national anthem.



And here's an excerpt from the opening remarks by one of the organizers. The gentleman in the white "Armenia" jacket meant no harm but simply could not help getting in the way of my camera.


I was hoping for some stemwinding oratory against the Terrible Turk, but instead there was a lot of singing in Armenian, and a lot of politicians complimenting the feed the Armenians put on for them.

In case you can't make out what the monument says, here's a close up view:



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I don't see why all these immigrants insist on drudging up the shit from their histories and dumping it in this country. Probably why this country is so divided, because fucking immigrants refuse to leave their pasts in the past. Are we to have days dedicated to every sub-species of sub-human who feel they were, as a sub-species, wronged by some other sub-species? I'm getting to the point where I think anyone who can't leave such a past behind them should be sent packing out of this country.

This is the United States of America. Our ancestors may have been immigrants, but WE OWE NOTHING TO THEIR PAST.