BANNER ON TREASURE ISLAND COMMEMORATES THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
April 6, 2015
TREASURE ISLAND, Calif. (ABC7News) –Drivers taking the Bay Bridge
to San Francisco will get some history with their commute in the form
of a sign for the month of April.
Armenians around the world are remembering the genocide against them on
its 100th anniversary. This was the first genocide of the 20th century.
They put up signs, memorials, even one on Yerba Buena Island. A sign
like this hasn’t been seen in this area until now.
“And it will be on Muni trains and BARTs and on the 101 and off the
Bay Bridge. You’ll be seeing in the next week,” Armenian-American
Kim Bardakian said.
Bardakian is one of 30,000 local members of the Armenian community,
many of whom pitched in to pay the Treasure Island Development
Authority $10,500 for the prime ad space, one that is supposed to
be non-political.
But is it?
“We did not evaluate it to be political, but more of a memorial of
historic events,” Treasure Island Development Authority spokesperson
Robert Beck said.
The Armenian Genocide began 100 years ago this month. 1.3 million
Armenian Christians died at the hands of the Ottoman Turkish
government.
“They were killed in the deserts and by starvation and by gruesome
acts of violence,” Bardakian said.
Even today, however, the Turkish government denies that the genocide
ever happened, which does bring in the possible political ramification
and begs a question about free speech.
What is to stop another more potentially controversial group from
asking for the same space as well or for causing demonstrations?
“We haven’t had a problem in the past with messages of a controversial
nature being requested or permitted. And we don’t see that this opens
up a door for that, either,” Beck said.
“It’s about genocide in general. Hitler is often referred to with
a famous quote that he said, ‘Who today remembers the Armenians,'”
Bardakian said.
This month on the Bay Bridge, we all will.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Disclaimer: This article was contributed and translated into English by Emil Lazarian. While we strive for quality, the views and accuracy of the content remain the responsibility of the contributor. Please verify all facts independently before reposting or citing.
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