Armenian community and Haifa city leaders during the inauguration of the Armenian Genocide Square

A square dedicated to the Armenian Genocide was inaugurated in Israel’s city of Haifa.

In a ceremony attended by Armenian community members and Armenia’s Ambassador to Israel Dr. Arman Agopian, the Armenian Genocide Square was officially inaugurated, reported the Armenian National Committee of Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem ANC also said that Turkey’s Embassy in Tel Aviv exerted great pressure on city officials to renege on the square naming and the event.

Present at the event were Haifa Mayor Einat Kalisch-Rotem, city council members, representatives of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the ANCJ and members of the Armenian communities of Israel and representatives of various communities of Haifa.

Earlier this month the city council of Haifa voted unanimously to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and erect a memorial to the victims in the city.

Haifa thus becomes the second city in Israel to recognize the Armenian Genocide after Petah Tikva (east of Tel Aviv), where a memorial to the victims was unveiled in April 2020.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Ambassador to Israel had demanded that the country’s government ban the monument in Haifa.