Community Government

Billboard by Group Denying Armenian Genocide Taken Down After One Day

Controversial billboard covered on Thursday morning in Boston’s North End (Photo: @PFratt)

In the Thursday mid-morning rain, workers have covered the controversial billboard by a group denying the Armenian Genocide, identified as “Turkic Platform, Istanbul“.

Turkic Platform, Istanbul billboard before it was removed. (Photo by @CarCarll)

In response to community complaints, sign owner Clear Channel Outdoor replaced the “Truth = Peace” sign just one day after it went up. The original billboard referred to the FactCheckArmenia.com website that broadly denies the 1915-1923 Armenian Genocide. The billboard depicted hands with the flags of the Russia and Armenia (crossed fingers) and Turkey (peace sign).

The billboard now shows a message from a non-profit adoption organization that has previously been displayed on the site.

Located across from the Armemian Heritage Park on the Greenway, the advertising space is atop the former Bread + Butter cafe location at the intersection of Cross and Salem Streets.

The Armenian Heritage Park and its Abstract Sculpture honor the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide and celebrates the immigrant experience. The Armenian-American community funded the park’s creation and its maintenance on the Rose Kennedy Greenway. On Sunday April 10th, the Abstract Sculpture will be reconfigured in the morning before the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur’s third annual Walk Against Genocide begins at the Holocaust Memorial and closes at Armenian Heritage Park. On Sunday, April 24, the Massachusetts Armenian Genocide Committee holds its annual commemoration event at the park (see photos from last year). Last week, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan made his first visit to Boston with stops in the North End, including the Old North Church and the Armenian Heritage Park.

6 Replies to “Billboard by Group Denying Armenian Genocide Taken Down After One Day

  1. Just a bit of a nitpick here, but “pro-adoption” is used in the adoption community to refer to folks who don’t support family preservation efforts and support a number of practices that place the rights of preadoptive families over the birth family or child’s rights, as well as practices that yield a financial profit. It often refers to adoptive parents and adoption professionals who believe that adoptees don’t need to know who their first parents are, that the child’s racial/ethnic heritage should be ignored, that adoptees should be grateful to their adoptive parents and shouldn’t grieve for their past family and heritage. “Pro-adoption” is often characterized as the practice of finding children for families, rather than finding families for children.

    MARE, the organization on the billboard, is a nonprofit that recruits adoptive families for waiting children (children whose original parents’ rights were terminated due to considerable abuse or neglect, and who will remain in foster care or group homes until age 18 or 22 if they are not adopted). While we can certainly talk about how a large number of these children could have remained in place if given proper supports, folks who speak out against the “pro-adoption” organizations don’t generally consider MARE and similar nonprofits that place waiting children to be part of the “pro-adoption” world.

  2. Why do you keep saying 1915-1923? I corrected you in the previous article as well. The correct time era is 1915-1918.

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