Armenian Genocide monument unveiled in Sydney

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) welcomed the unveiling of an Armenian monument in Sydney’s Northern Beaches dedicated to the lives of past, present and future Armenians.

The eight-metre high monument was unveiled at the Frenchs Forest Bushland Cemetery, in the presence of the Hon. Jonathan O’Dea, Speaker of the NSW Legislative Assembly and Chair of the NSW Armenia-Australia Parliamentary Friendship Group, Armenian-Australian community and religious leaders and members of the community.

The monument was commissioned by Northern Metropolitan Cemeteries Land Manager and designed by Armenian-Australian architect, Andre Vahagn Vartan-Boghossian paying tribute to the 1.5 million Armenian lives lost during the Armenian Genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923.

Boghossian explained: “The stone base of the monument represents Armenian historic culture and knowledge, as a tree rooted in the earth where the Armenians of the past rest.”

“Portrayed in the break of the stone is the Armenian Genocide of 1915, an event which defines the identity of all Armenians today and when culture was once on the brink of coming to a halt. Out of the trunk blossoms the continuation of this culture in a new form, no longer in stone but in bronze. It is a new culture, augmented by the past and flowering in Australia,” he added.

On April 24, 1915, a large group of Armenian intellectuals was rounded up and assassinated in Constantinople by the Ottoman government. On April 24, 2022, Armenians worldwide will be commemorating the 107th anniversary of the Genocide which continued until 1923. Some three dozen countries, hundreds of local government bodies and international organizations have so far recognized the killings of 1.5 million Armenians as Genocide. Turkey denies to this day.