Tsitsernakaberd

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Armenians laying flowers in the memorial on April 24.

Tsitsernakaberd (Armenian: Ծիծեռնակաբերդ, Russian: Цицернакабéрд) is a memorial dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide located on a hill overlooking Yerevan, Armenia. Every year on April 24, Armenians gather here to remember the victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide that took place in the Ottoman Empire carried out by the Turkish government. In 1965 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Genocide after a million people demonstrated for 24 hours; the demonstrations are now known as the 1965 Yerevan demonstrations. In response, the genocide memorial construction began in 1966 and it was completed in 1968. In Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, crowds of people walk to the Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Memorial to lay flowers at the eternal flame.

The 44 meter stele symbolizes the national rebirth of Armenians. 12 slabs are positioned in a circle, representing 12 lost provinces in present day Turkey. In the center of the circle, in depth of 1.5 meters, there is an eternal flame. Along the park at the memorial there is a 100 meter wall with names of towns and villages where massacres are known to have taken place. In 1995 a small underground circular museum was opened at the other end of the park where one can learn basic information about the events in 1915. Some photos taken by German photographers (Turkish allies during World War I) including photos taken by Armin T. Wegner and some publications about the genocide are also displayed. Near the museum is a spot where foreign statesmen plant trees in memory of the genocide.

Boris Yeltsin, who was the first president of the Russian Federation, left a comment in the visitor guestbook stating that "The genocide of the Armenian people in 1915–22 is a global disgrace."

Ծիծեռնակաբերդ ("fortress of small swallows") is an agglutinative compound noun in Armenian composed of the roots ծիծեռնակ ("small swallow") and բերդ ("fortress") with the agglutinating infix <ա>.