Iğdır Genocide Memorial and Museum


Iğdır Genocide Memorial and Museum or Memorial and Museum of Martyred Turks Massacred by Armenians is a memorial-museum complex to commemorate massacres of Turks by Armenians during World War I and the Turkish–Armenian War. The construction for the memorial started on 1 August 1997 and it was dedicated on 5 October 1999 in Iğdır, Turkey. Its height is 43.5 metres, making it the tallest monument in Turkey.
Minister of State Ramazan Mirzaoğlu claimed that between 1915 and 1920 Armenians killed almost 80,000 people in Iğdır in his address during the opening ceremony, where the Turkish president Süleyman Demirel was also present.

Criticism

Bilgin Ayata on Armenian Weekly criticized the memorial "aggressive, nationalistic, and outright hostile." European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy announced that the memorial is designed to deny the Armenian Genocide and demanded its closure.

Gallery