A little piece of Armenia in Wales

Although it was raining on our last morning in Cardiff I wanted to pay my respects again to this memorial that commemorates the Armenian genocide in Turkey in 1915 when over a million men, women and children were slaughtered by the Ottoman government, many dying on a forced march out of the country. The event is said to have given Hitler the idea for exterminating the Jews.

Almost exactly five years ago, Guinea Pig Zero and I attended the initial unveiling of this monument, the first such in the UK. With words in Armenian, Welsh and English it stands in a small leafy garden outside Cardiff's Temple of Peace. Nevertheless, while the modest ceremony was taking place police were needed to contain a Turkish protest demonstration whose members were catcalling and waving placards. Not long after, the memorial was desecrated. Today I was glad to find it restored. I placed some golden leaves in an empty vase and scattered a few rose petals for remembrance. It seems very fitting that Wales, another small nation embedded within a larger one, should take the lead in recognizing the atrocity committed against Armenia.

For a brief summary of the Armenian genocide see here (there is plenty more if you Google) and, should anyone have any doubts, there is a particularly shocking piece by Robert Fisk about the obliteration of Armenian children's identities here.

My photographs of the 2007 unveiling ceremony (and the protest) can found here.