Pasadena Armenian Coalition to Host Its Community-Wide Commemoration of the 109th Year of the Armenian Genocide

Over Five Hundred Community Leaders and Members Expected to Attend and Participate
   
PASADENA, CA – The Pasadena Armenian Coalition announces that it will host its community-wide Armenian
Genocide Commemorative Event (“Event”), on Sunday, April 21, 2024, at 3:00 PM, at the Pasadena Armenian
Genocide Memorial Monument located at The City of Pasadena’s Memorial Park – 85 E. Holly St. Pasadena, CA
and will pay tribute to the enduring strength and resiliency of survivors of the 1915 Armenian Genocide while
honoring the memory of the over 1. 5 Million innocent victims who mercilessly lost their lives 109 years ago.
This year’s theme is “Resilience in the Face of Genocide — Then and Now.” The Event is intended to draw the
public’s attention to the Armenian community’s continued demands that its perpetrator, the Republic of Turkey,
properly acknowledge its crimes against their civilian, Armenian population. The Event also highlights how the
failure to acknowledge and punish genocide may result in its perpetuation, as demonstrated by the Republic of
Azerbaijan’s recent ethnic cleansing and genocidal campaign against the majority Armenian enclave of the
Republic of Artsakh.
The Event will begin with a solemn commemoration of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. It will be followed by the
broadcast of testimonials of Armenian Genocide survivors by the day’s keynote speaker — Sedda Antekelian of
the Shoah Foundation of the University of Southern California — as well as remarks from Congresswoman Judy
Chu. The Event will conclude with recitations of poems and songs by students of local Armenian schools and
programs to demonstrate the community’s resiliency in the face of genocides of the past and the education of a
new generation of Armenian youth to preserve the future.
“The Armenian-American residents of Pasadena has a long, storied and proud presence and history here in the
City of Pasadena, and throughout the San Gabriel Valley and beyond” stated Boghos Patatian, of The Pasadena
Armenian Coalition, “today we are out en-masse to properly pay tribute and honor the lives and memories of over
1.5 million innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide, to raise awareness of the continued current atrocities being
perpetrated on our compatriots in the Republic of Artsakh, but to also speak truth to power, that despite such
perilous odds, recognize the resiliency and highlight the immeasurable positive contributions of our proud people”
said Patatian. “We invite and encourage Armenian-Americans and the Pasadena community at large to join us in
this effort and attend this important public commemoration event.”