Armenian tribute cross smashed
Armenian tribute cross smashed
_Jan 28 2008_ (http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/01/28/)
by Martin Shipton, Western Mail
by Martin Shipton, Western Mail
A MEMORIAL stone commemorating an estimated one-and-a-half million Armenians
massacred by Ottoman Turks in 1915 was desecrated in Cardiff at the weekend.
Organisers of a National Holocaust Day event discovered yesterday morning the
slate cross on the monument by the Temple of Peace in Cathays Park had been
smashed with a hammer.
Many Turks object to the description of the 1915 massacres as a holocaust,
and yesterday a single Turkish heckler with a megaphone sought to drown out
prayers and speeches at the desecrated monument attended by members of Wales'
small Armenian community.
ic Wales, United Kingdom
icWales, the best source for Welsh news, sport, business and entertainment
Memorial to 'genocide' vandalised
Monday, 28 January 2008, 12:52 GMT BBC WALES NEWS
The cross was erected in November 2007
An ornamental cross erected last year in Cardiff to commemorate what
some say was the genocide of Armenian people during World War I has
been damaged.
The Armenian Celtic-style cross was smashed and a hammer was left
lying near the damaged memorial ahead of a commemoration service on
Sunday.
The service took place outside the Temple of Peace to mark Holocaust Day.
South Wales Police are investigating the damage and have appealed for
information from the public.
On Sunday, around 30 people gathered for the ceremony, which marked
the deaths of 1.5m Armenians between 1915 and 1923.
Two protesters who objected to calling the deaths a genocide disrupted
the ceremony for part of the time.
A number of countries have officially recognised an Armenian genocide,
including France, Canada, Argentina and Switzerland.
Turkish nationalist protesters heckled Armenians attending the
Holocaust Memorial Day event in Cardiff on Sunday.
The wreath-laying event, held outside the Temple of Peace in Cathays
Park, attracted the displeasure of the self-styled Committee for the
Protection of Turkish Rights, which previously sent 100 protesters to
disrupt a requiem service organised to consecrate the Welsh National
Armenian genocide monument outside the temple on November 3.
Some Turkish nationalists are furious at attempts to remember the
Turkish government's attempt to wipe out its Armenian population in
1915.
A spokesman for the Welsh Armenian group at Sunday's event explained
why they were attending Holocaust Memorial Day.
"This is the only public genocide monument in Wales, even in the UK,"
he said.
"We hope that it will become a focus for every other group which has
suffered or has been persecuted.
"Also we hope that Armenian-Jewish friendship will be promoted by
this."
An ornamental cross erected last year in Cardiff to commemorate what
some say was the genocide of Armenian people during World War I has
been damaged.
The Armenian Celtic-style cross was smashed and a hammer was left
lying near the damaged memorial ahead of a commemoration service on
Sunday.
The service took place outside the Temple of Peace to mark Holocaust Day.
South Wales Police are investigating the damage and have appealed for
information from the public.
On Sunday, around 30 people gathered for the ceremony, which marked
the deaths of 1.5m Armenians between 1915 and 1923.
Two protesters who objected to calling the deaths a genocide disrupted
the ceremony for part of the time.
A number of countries have officially recognised an Armenian genocide,
including France, Canada, Argentina and Switzerland.
Turkish nationalist protesters heckled Armenians attending the
Holocaust Memorial Day event in Cardiff on Sunday.
The wreath-laying event, held outside the Temple of Peace in Cathays
Park, attracted the displeasure of the self-styled Committee for the
Protection of Turkish Rights, which previously sent 100 protesters to
disrupt a requiem service organised to consecrate the Welsh National
Armenian genocide monument outside the temple on November 3.
Some Turkish nationalists are furious at attempts to remember the
Turkish government's attempt to wipe out its Armenian population in
1915.
A spokesman for the Welsh Armenian group at Sunday's event explained
why they were attending Holocaust Memorial Day.
"This is the only public genocide monument in Wales, even in the UK,"
he said.
"We hope that it will become a focus for every other group which has
suffered or has been persecuted.
"Also we hope that Armenian-Jewish friendship will be promoted by
this."
No comments:
Post a Comment