Thread by @Nick_Ashdown

I didn't realize that the first memorial to the Armenian Genocide, called the Huşartsan, was actually erected in the Pangaltı Armenian Cemetery in 1919 on the site of what later became Gezi Park. #24Nisan

The Pangaltı Cemetery, built in 1560, was the largest non-Muslim graveyard in the city.

newyorker.com/culture/cultur…

In 1922, the Huşartsan was taken down and lost to history. The cemetery was later seized by the municipality, and in 1939, it was destroyed along with the nearby church. In 1943, Gezi Park was built by French architect Henri Prost. The stairs were built from Armenian gravestones.

Tombstones were discovered during excavations for the Taksim pedestrianization project in 2013. During the Gezi protests of that year, activists installed a makeshift tomb, on which was written “You took our cemetery from us, you will not take our park!”

Mysteriously, there is apparently scant evidence that the memorial actually existed, though if it did, the regime would have presumably tried to erase all evidence of it after taking it down. Seems an odd story to fabricate, but needs a proper study.

https://twitter.com/besiktasliyan/status/1650519780787404801?s=20