The Twelve Slabs of the Genocide Memorial

Vahe H. Apelian

An aerial view of the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Armenia

Recently I came across the attached picture of the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Armenia on an elevation called Tsitsernakaberd. It was the very first time I saw the memorial pictured from above. It cast an impressive image. The flowers put in the memorial on an April 24 commemoration enhanced the symbolism of what the memorial stood for and brought it live.

According to the Wikipedia “ The construction of the monument began in 1966, during Soviet times, in response to the 1965 Yerevan demonstrations during which one hundred thousand people demonstrated in Yerevan for 24 hours to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Genocide. They demanded the Soviet authorities officially recognize it as a genocide. The memorial is designed by architects Arthur Tarkhanyan, Sashur Kalashyan and artist Hovhannes Khachatryan and was completed in November 1967.”

The memorial consists of 12 slabs  positioned in a circle that bow towards the center of the circle where there is an eternal flame dedicated to the 1.5 million killed during the Armenian genocide. 

There is a discrepancy regarding  the symbolism of  the number of slabs of the memorial represent. In the English version description of the memorial, Wikipedia claims that they represent “the twelve lost provinces in present-day Turkey.” But a cursory search in Wikipedia  indicates that present  “Turkey is divided into 81 provinces”.

One naturally assumes that the reference is made to the provinces that in diplomatic circles, at one time constituted  Western Armenia in the Ottoman Empire for they were the most Armenian inhabited.  That also is not the case for historically the major Armenian inhabited provinces were considered to be six. I quote: “The term Six Vilayets  was a term In the diplomatic language and meant the Vilayets with Armenian population. European diplomats often referred to the Six Armenian Vilayets during the Congress of Berlin in 1878.” The  congress whose Armenian delegation was headed by Khrimian Hayrig and who, upon return, gave his historical “iron (or paper) ladle” speech.

In  response to my posting the aerial picture of the Genocide Monument/Memorial in Armenia, Vartan Matiossian commented and noted the following: “the slabs have nothing to do with the "twelve lost provinces," a frequently repeated explanation that has become an urban myth. Out of the fifteen provinces of historical Armenia, Utik and Paytakaran are in Azerbaijan, Artsakh is independent, Ayrarat, Gugark, and Siunik are partly in the Republic of Armenia. So, we have no more than 9 provinces in Turkey. Regardless, the architect of the monument has said himself that the 12 slabs are unrelated to the "twelve provinces." 

The Armenian version of Wikipedia in fact  asserts the veracity  Vartan Matiossian’s claim. The twelve slaps  were chosen out of architectural consideration. The architects after having considered different number of slabs, had found out that 12 slabs were architecturally the most esthetic. 

Yet, one expects that every facet of the memorial, especially the more visible slabs, are symbolic to something. As far as I am concerned, while it is good to know as to how the number of slabs of the main Armenian Genocide Memorial came about, but alluding that the slabs represent the  provinces or the vilayets in the Ottoman Empire, from which the Armenians were driven for extermination is a fair assumption in spite of the fact that the number is not historically tenable and is mythic.