First published in the April 30 print issue of the Burbank Leader.
The Burbank chapter of the Armenian National Committee of America held a ceremony at Burbank City Hall on April 23 commemorating the 107th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
About 100 community members, ANCA Burbank board members and elected officials gathered at the steps of Burbank City Hall to lay flowers on a memorial dedicated to the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide in 1915, ANCA Burbank said in a news release.
The event began with the Homenetmen Scouts proudly marching and placing the flags of the United States, California, Armenia and Artsakh on the memorial, which was designed and built jointly by the Burbank chapters of Homenetmen the American Youth Federation.
“For Armenians,” ANCA Burbank Chairman Sarkis Simonian said, “the genocide never ended and continues to this day as evidenced by the war in Artsakh in 2020 and the ethnic cleansing that followed, and still continues today as Azerbaijan keeps forcing Armenians away from their homes and villages in Artsakh and tries to erase their existence by turning churches and historical sites into pastures and brutal monuments of their savagery.”
Among the public officials in attendance, several of whom addressed the crowd, were state Sen. Anthony Portantino, state Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, Burbank Mayor Jess Talamantes, Glendale Mayor Ardy Kassakhian, Burbank Vice Mayor Konstantine Anthony, Burbank City Council members Sharon Springer and Nick Schultz, Burbank Unified School District Board of Education Vice President Steve Ferguson and BUSD board member Armond Aghakhanian.
ANCA Burbank thanked Mary Hovagimian, a representative for Congressman Adam Schiff, the Burbank Police Department, the city of Burbank and the BUSD for recently issuing proclamations memorializing the Armenian Genocide and lighting City Hall with the colors of the Armenian Flag.
The event included a flower-laying ceremony, during which each guest placed a flower at the memorial, which was surrounded by wreaths and crowned with the flags of both Armenia and Artsakh.
