LOS ANGELES _ Police are investigating reports of several Turkish flags being hung on the gates of Armenian schools in Encino and Canoga Park, sparking concern and outrage in L.A.'s Armenian community.
Tuesday morning, officers were called to Holy Martyrs Ferrahian High School, an Armenian school in Encino, after school staff members discovered Turkish flags hung on the campus, said Officer Kevin Lee, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime.
An estimated 1.2 million Armenians were rounded up and killed by the Ottoman Turkish government beginning in 1915. Armenians regard the acts as part of an organized, orchestrated effort by the Turkish government. Historians have characterized what happened as a precursor of _ and even a model for _ genocides that followed. Turkey claims only half a million Armenians died when they rose up against their rulers after World War I, and denies that their deaths constitute an act of genocide.
Police believe the flags were posted at about 4:40 a.m.; they were taken down before students could see them, Lee said. The school is working with law enforcement to examine video surveillance footage of the suspects hanging the flags.
Lee could not immediately confirm a second report of the Turkish flags at AGBU Manoogian-Demirdjian School in Canoga Park, but the school's principal, Arpi Avanesian, said its staff called police at about 6 a.m. Tuesday.
Avanesian said the school's P.E. coach and chef, who arrive at the campus first, saw the flags hanging outside the main gate when they pulled into the campus. They took photographs and removed the flags before students arrived. Later that morning, staff members walked the perimeter of the six-acre school to find more flags posted, she said. Video surveillance footage shows one or two men dressed in all black hanging the flags on the school gate early Tuesday morning, she said.
Avanesian said LAPD was investigating the event as a hate incident, not a hate crime, because the suspects were unable to enter the property.
"It came as a complete shock and surprise in the sense we weren't expecting it," she said. "I don't know what this person was thinking about. Why today? What set them off to do this? What doesn't shock me is they did it."
Avanasian said she doesn't believe the incident is about the simple hanging of a flag. She said the suspects wanted to send a message discrediting the Armenian genocide.
"We want to all get along," she said. "We want people to understand the crimes of the past and we can all have a bright and happy future. Our hope is one day Turkey will understand what their government did over 100 years ago."
In a statement, officials from AGBU Manoogian-Demirdjian School said LAPD officers would be present Wednesday morning when students are being dropped off. Officials assured parents and students the school is safe, but requested that they park off campus in the afternoon.
U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, who represents the San Fernando Valley, condemned the vandalism in a statement Tuesday.
"It is particularly cruel to those whose family members died in the Armenian Genocide," he said. "I call on law enforcement to make arresting the vandals a high priority."
Tuesday afternoon, Holy Martyrs Ferrahian High School had replaced the Turkish flags with Armenian flags.
A number of countries have issued statements over the years condemning Turkey's actions as genocide. But the United States has not.
