Fresno State will break ground on a monument to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide that began in 1915. Groundbreaking will be at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 2 on Maple Mall, south of the Satellite Student Union.
Approved by the Campus Planning Committee, the monument will be constructed with private donations and will be dedicated on April 24. It was designed by Fresno architect Paul Halajian.
The groundbreaking ceremony is planned by the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee of Fresno and is open to the public. Free parking will be available in lots P15, P16, P5 and P6.
Built from béton brut (architectural concrete) and tufa stones, the monument will embody symbols of cultural meaning to the Armenian people. Its principal components will be arranged in a circular pattern and angled inwards, reminiscent of the Tzitzernagapert Armenian Martyrs Monument in Armenia.
Nine pillars that comprise the body of the structure represent the six provinces of historic Armenia, Cilicia, the Diaspora and the Republic of Armenia. An incomplete halo will be set above the columns, symbolizing both the fracture left by the genocide and the unity of the Armenian people.
Fresno State Armenian Studies Professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian said that starting on April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Turkish government arrested and eventually executed hundreds of Armenian religious, academic and political leaders — the first step in the eventual killing of as many as 1.5 million people from 1915-1923.
Der Mugrdechian said according to historians, legal experts and more than 20 nations, the planned and systematic nature of these killings constituted a genocide as defined by the United Nations’ Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
For more information on the Armenian Genocide monument contact Berj Apkarian, chair of the Armenian Genocide Monument Subcommittee, at 559.696.0190 or bapkarian@att.net; or Der Mugrdechian at 559.278.2669 or barlowd@csufresno.edu.
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