ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MEMORIAL PLACED IN PARK

Twin Falls Times-News
Nov 23 2009
Idaho

Photo: Tim Campbell, left, and Martin Babayan place a granite memorial
stone at Twin Falls City Park on Saturday. The stone serves as a
tribute to those who died in what has become known as the Armenian
Holocaust and to honor Armenian refugees who now contribute to the
community. (JOHN PLESTINA/ Times-News) .

..Liyah Babayan envisioned an Armenian Genocide memorial in Twin Falls
to serve as a permanent tribute to those who died in what has become
known as the Armenian Holocaust and to honor Armenian refugees who
now contribute to the community.

The 26-year-old Babayan, who came to Twin Falls from Armenia with her
family when she was 11, spent much of this year lobbying and raising
money for the granite memorial that was placed at Twin Falls City
Park on Saturday. Armenian refugees planted a flowering pear tree
beside the granite stone.

The memorial is a permanent reminder that the Turks killed between
one-million and 1 1/2-million Armenians between 1915 and 1918 that
were living in what was then the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey).

"It really means a lot to my parents and my grandparents," said
Babayan, now a U.S. citizen who witnessed the fall of the Soviet
Union as a child in Armenia, then a part of the Communist union of
16 nation states.

Now pregnant and expecting a baby in December, Babayan said she knows
her child will not experience atrocities as an American.

"We have rooted ourselves in this community. I grew up here. We
own a business in Twin Falls," Babayan said, adding that many other
Armenians who came to Twin Falls as refugees are today United States
citizens and contribute to the community.

"The Armenian American community in Twin Falls donated the tree and
plaque," she said.

Babayan approached Twin Falls Mayor Lance Clow early this year with
a petition requesting the memorial.

"He let me know that it might be an obstacle to place this type
of plaque and memorial on city property," Babayan said, explaining
that the city wants plaques to commemorate events that have direct
historic ties to the Twin Falls community. "The memorial commemorates
a historic event that happened overseas."

She explained that the memorial brings awareness to why Armenian
refugees are in Twin Falls.

The Twin Falls City Council approved the memorial in September by a
4-3 vote after considerable debate.