The Iğdır Genocide Memorial and Museum (Turkish: ''Iğdır Soykırım Anıt-Müzesi'') is a memorial-museum complex in Iğdır,

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. It is known for denial of the Armenian genocide. The stated aim of the memorial is to "commemorate massacres and persecution committed by Armenians in Iğdır Province" during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and the Turkish–Armenian War. The memorial was built to further deny the Armenian genocide through an untrue claim that Armenians massacred Turks, rather than vice versa, during World War I. French journalists Laure Marchand and Guillaume Perrier call the monument "the ultimate

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

of the Turkish government's policy of denying the 1915 genocide by rewriting history and transforming victims into guilty parties". Bilgin Ayata on '' Armenian Weekly'' criticized the memorial as "aggressive, nationalistic, and outright hostile". The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy announced that the memorial is designed to deny the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...

and demanded its closure. The construction for the memorial started on 1 August 1997 and it was dedicated on 5 October 1999 in Iğdır,

. Its height is , making it the tallest monument in Turkey. In an address at the monument's opening ceremony,

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

Ramazan Mirzaoğlu claimed that Armenians killed almost 80,000 people in Iğdır between 1915 and 1920; the Turkish president

Süleyman Demirel Sami Süleyman Gündoğdu Demirel (; 1 November 1924 – 17 June 2015) was a Turkish people, Turkish politician, engineer, and statesman who served as the List of Presidents of Turkey, 9th President of Turkey from 1993 to 2000. He previously serv ...

was also present. "1915–1920 yılları arasında Iğdır'da yaklaşık 80 bin kişinin Ermeniler tarafından hunharca katledildiği..."

Gallery

File:Ermeniler Tarafından Katledilen Şehit Türkler AM.jpg, Entrance to the memorial–museum File:SoykırımAnıtMüze1.jpg, A part of the museum dedicated to Turkish diplomats assassinated by Armenian militant organizations File:SoykırımAnıtMüze2.jpg, Exhibits of some books File:SoykırımAnıtMüze4.jpg, Some books exhibited in the museum

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Igdir Genocide Memorial and Museum Ottoman casualties of World War I World War I memorials in Turkey Monuments and memorials in Iğdır Armenian genocide denial 1999 establishments in Turkey Museums established in 1999

Gallery

See also

References

External links