ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MEMORIAL PLACED IN IDAHO PARK

Asbarez
Nov 23rd, 2009

Tim Campbell, left, and Martin Babayan place a granite memorial stone
at Twin Falls City Park on Saturday.

TWIN FALLS, ID (Magic Valley News)-The Armenian community of Idaho
inaugurated on Saturday a granite memorial stone to the Armenian
Genocide at the Twin Falls City Park, reported the Magic Valley News.

The memorial is a permanent reminder that the Turks killed between
one-million and 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1923 that were
living in what was then the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey).

The Twin Falls City Council approved the memorial in September by a
4-3 vote after considerable debate. The Armenian American community
in Twin Falls donated the tree and plaque.

26-year-old Liyah 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.

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.

"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.

"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.