Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Genocide monument breaks new ground for Clark County

Armenian

Mikayla Whitmore

Andy Armenian, left, and Levon Gulbenkian, right, stand next to a model of the Armenian Genocide Monument at Sunset Park, where the sculpture will be built.

A tragedy that began a century ago in the Middle East is being memorialized in what may seem like an unlikely place — Sunset Park.

Thanks to the dedication of Las Vegas’ Armenian-American community, an estimated 1 million to 1.5 million victims of World War I-era genocide of Armenians will be honored with a monument in the park.

What is the Armenian Genocide?

The Armenian Genocide began April 24, 1915, when the Ottoman government in what today is Turkey arrested about 200 Armenian community leaders. Systematic killing of Armenian men followed, and women, children and the elderly were forced out of their homeland on death marches to the Syrian desert.

Between 1 million and 1.5 million Armenians were killed in what is considered one of the first modern genocides. The remaining Armenian community was scattered in a diaspora, eventually settling around the world, including in the United States.

Controversially, the Turkish government, which succeeded the Ottoman Empire, still disputes the use of the term genocide to describe the mass killings.

“The genocide is a part of our history, it’s part of our identity,” said Andy Armenian, who helped lead the monument planning effort. “The monument will be a healing process for the community. For the broader (Las Vegas) community, we hope this monument will serve as a history reminder and with that be a deterrent to future genocides.”

The monument is a major accomplishment for Las Vegas’ Armenian community, which has been working for five years to raise money and get permission to put the sculpture in one of the region’s biggest parks.

It’s also opening the door for other public monuments to be placed around the valley. During a yearlong debate about whether to allow the Armenian Genocide monument, Clark County commissioners realized they had no rules in place for deciding whether to green light requests for proposed monuments. The result was a new policy, passed in December, that lays out guidelines for how to get monuments approved for display in public spaces.

Monuments must address historic events, groups or people, have relevance to the broader community and be meaningful to future generations. They can’t include religious speech and can be denied if they’re considered objectionable to the general community. Other guidelines cover the look and location, and bar monuments from parks smaller than 25 acres.

Commissioner Mary Beth Scow, whose district includes Sunset Park, said the rules ensure anyone requesting permission to build a monument in a park would receive a fair chance at approval. It also gives the county flexibility to deny proposals that don’t meet the requirements.

“I think (the Armenian genocide monument) hits the criteria,” she said. “It’s timeless. It has a lot of community significance. I don’t think a lot of people are aware of that genocide. It’s important for people to see, so we don’t forget something like that and don’t repeat it.”

Monuments also must be privately funded, something the Armenian American Cultural Society of Las Vegas accomplished by raising more than $100,000 to pay for construction and long-term maintenance.

Andy Armenian said Sunset Park was chosen because of its proximity to the Armenian community’s largest church, at Eastern Avenue and Desert Inn Road.

“It’s centrally located in Las Vegas,” he said. “It’s one of the largest and most visited parks. At the same time, many Armenian families live within five to 10 minutes of Sunset Park.”

Las Vegas’ monument is modeled after a similar sculpture in Armenia, with 12 decorative concrete pillars representing the 12 provinces where Armenians were killed during the genocide. Construction is expected to begin in the next three months and finish in about a year.

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